Nigeria Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar apologises over Burkina Faso military flight

The air force personnel have been released but have not yet returned home, Nigeria says.

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Tuggar's spokesperson told the BBC that the detained personnel had been released and were due to return to Nigeria, without saying when.

The plane was flying to Portugal when it developed a technical problem and had to land in Burkina Faso, according to the Nigerian Air Force.

The unauthorised landing sparked a diplomatic row with the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) made up of Burkina Faso and its neighbours, Mali, and Niger.

In a statement, AES characterised it as an "unfriendly act" and said member states‘ respective air forces had been put on maximum alert and authorised to "neutralise any aircraft" found to violate the confederation's airspace.