Radio TNT 102.5 FM

The army in Togo has expressed its profound regret for killing seven teenagers on Saturday night who it mistook for jihadists.

In a statement, the army chief, Dadja Maganawe, said that the group had been killed when they were attacked by an army aircraft on night patrol.

All the victims were aged between 14 and 18.

Media in the northern Savanes region reported that the teenagers were on their way home from celebrating the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha.

The Togolese army has been on high alert following the country’s first deadly militant attack in May, when eight soldiers were killed near the border with Burkina Faso.