MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — A Nigerian Air Force strike targeting jihadi rebels hit a local market in northeastern Nigeria, killing over 100 residents and injuring many others, a rights group and local media reported on Sunday. Officials confirmed a misfire but did not provide details.
Amnesty International said it confirmed from survivors that at least 100 people were killed in the airstrike Saturday on a village in Yobe state near the border with Borno state, the epicenter of the jihadi insurgency that has ravaged the region for over a decade.
Such misfires are common in Nigeria, where the military often conducts air raids to battle armed groups who control vast forest enclaves. The air raids have ended up killing at least 500 civilians since 2017, according to an AP tally of reported deaths. Security analysts point to loopholes in intelligence gathering as well as insufficient coordination between ground troops, air assets and stakeholders.
The large, remote market where the strike occurred, located at the Borno-Yobe border, is known to be often patronized by Boko Haram jihadis who come there to buy food supplies.
Abdulmumin Bulama, a member of a civilian security group working with the Nigerian military in the northeast, said there was intelligence that Boko Haram terrorists were gathering at a location very close to the market and it was believed they were planning an attack on nearby communities.
“The intel was shared and the Air Force jet acted based on the credible information,” the official said.
The Yobe State Government confirmed in a statement that a Nigerian military strike was targeting a stronghold of the Boko Haram jihadi group in the area and that “some people … who went to the Jilli weekly market were affected.” The Yobe State Emergency Management Agency also acknowledged that an incident had occurred resulting in casualties and said it had dispatched response teams to the area while urging the public to remain calm.
“We are in touch with people that are there, we spoke with the hospital. We spoke with the person in charge of casualties, and we spoke with the victims,” Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International Nigeria director, told The Associated Press.
The Nigerian military issued a statement saying it conducted a successful strike on a “terrorist enclave and logistics hub” belonging to jihadis in the area, killing scores of them as they rode on motorcycles. It did not provide any detail about a possible misfire but noted that motorcycles remain prohibited in conflict hot spots and “any such movements in restricted areas are therefore treated with the utmost seriousness.”
The Nigerian Air Force did not immediately respond to an AP inquiry.
Nigeria, which is Africa’s most populous country, is battling a complex security crisis, especially in the north, where there is a decade-long insurgency and several armed groups that kidnap for ransom.
Among the most prominent Islamic militant groups are Boko Haram and its breakaway faction, which is affiliated with the Islamic State group and known as Islamic State West Africa Province. There is also the IS-linked Lakurawa group operating in communities in the northwestern part of the country that borders Niger Republic.
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Shibayan reported from Abuja, Nigeria.
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