Dozens Killed as Nigerian Airstrike Targeting Militants Hits Market in Yobe State

A Nigerian Air Force operation targeting jihadist militants in the country's northeast resulted in significant civilian casualties over the weekend after ordnance struck a local market. According to a local chief cited in reports on Monday, the strike on a village in Yobe state killed as many as 200 civilians. Nigerian officials acknowledged that a misfire occurred but did not immediately release a detailed accounting of the incident.

The air raid took place on Saturday in a location near the border with Borno state, a region that has served as the epicenter of a militant insurgency lasting more than a decade. Amnesty International, drawing on accounts from survivors and hospital sources, stated that at least 100 people were killed. Isa Sanusi, the organization's director for Nigeria, confirmed that the group had obtained photographic evidence of the dead and that the casualties included children. The rights group maintained direct communication with the facility handling the injured as well as with individuals present at the scene.

A staff member at Geidam General Hospital in Yobe state, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not permitted to address the press, said that at least 23 people wounded in the strike were receiving medical treatment at that location. Incidents of this nature have been a recurring feature of Nigeria's military campaigns against armed groups operating from vast forest enclaves. According to a tally maintained by the Associated Press, no fewer than 500 civilians have died in similar misfires since 2017. Security analysts point to deficiencies in intelligence gathering and a lack of sufficient coordination between ground forces, aerial units, and local stakeholders as contributing factors.

The market in question, situated near the Borno-Yobe boundary, is known to be frequented by Boko Haram fighters seeking to procure food supplies. Abdulmumin Bulama, a member of a civilian security outfit that cooperates with the Nigerian military in the northeast, indicated that intelligence reports had placed a concentration of Boko Haram operatives in close proximity to the market, allegedly planning an assault on surrounding communities. According to Bulama, this information was disseminated and the Air Force acted on what was deemed credible intelligence.

The Yobe State Government issued a statement confirming that a military operation had been directed at a Boko Haram stronghold and acknowledged that individuals who had traveled to the Jilli weekly market were "affected." Similarly, the Yobe State Emergency Management Agency reported the dispatch of response teams to address casualties impacting marketers in the area.

In its official communication, Nigeria's military characterized the mission as a successful strike on a "terrorist enclave and logistics hub." The statement noted that scores of militants were killed as they moved on motorcycles. The military did not address the reported civilian harm directly but reiterated that the use of motorcycles remains prohibited in designated conflict zones and that any such movement is treated with the "utmost seriousness."

Amnesty International has called for an investigation into the incident that is independent of the military chain of command, noting a pattern wherein the armed forces routinely categorize civilian victims as bandits. Nigeria continues to confront a multifaceted security crisis, particularly in its northern states, where a decade-long Islamist insurgency and the proliferation of armed kidnapping gangs persist. The dominant militant factions include Boko Haram and its offshoot, the Islamic State West Africa Province, as well as the IS-linked Lakurawa group operating in the northwest near the border with Niger Republic.

Written by Martina Kirchner