Nigerian military airstrike kills over 100 in country’s northeast: Amnesty

Scores of civilians were killed when a Nigerian military airstrike targeting Boko Haram militants in the country’s northeast struck a local market over the weekend, rights watchdog Amnesty said Monday.

More than 100 people were killed and 35 severely injured in the strike, which hit Jilli village of the Yobe state—an area at the center of a long-running insurgency involving Boko Haram, Amnesty said.

Eyewitnesses said three military jets fired on a market in the village, it added in a statement posted on US social media platform X.

“Launching air raids is not a legitimate law enforcement method by anyone’s standard. Such reckless use of deadly force is unlawful, outrageous and lays bare the Nigerian military’s shocking disregard for the lives of those it supposedly exists to protect,” it added, demanding an urgent and impartial development.

Reacting to the development, Babagana Umara Zulum, governor of Borno state neighboring Yobe, said the market had been officially shut down by the government about five years ago due to its use as a logistics hub by terrorists and their collaborators.

Zulum, who backed the military operation, said authorities had previously closed both Jilli and nearby markets as part of counterinsurgency measures.

In a statement on Sunday, Nigerian Air Force spokesman Sanni Uba said the operation followed sustained intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions that tracked the movements of terrorists, including motorcycles and gun trucks, converging on the area.

He also described the location as a known enclave for insurgents.

In response to the controversy, the Nigerian Air Force said it had initiated a probe into allegations of civilian casualties, as the incident highlights the ongoing challenges facing Nigeria’s military in its counterinsurgency operations, where civilian areas are often located near suspected militant strongholds.

Nigeria has battled terrorism in the northeast for over a decade. The conflict has killed thousands and displaced millions across the Lake Chad region.