Maiduguri, Nigeria — Nigerian Air Force strike targeting jihadist rebels hits a local market in the northeast NigeriaA rights group and local media reported Sunday that more than 100 civilians, including children, were killed and many others injured. officials confirmed a misfire Without providing details.
At least 100 people were killed in an airstrike on Saturday on a village in Yobe state near the border with Borno state, the epicenter of the earthquake, Amnesty International said, citing survivors. Jihadi rebellion Which has devastated this area for more than a decade.
“We have photographs of them and they include children,” Amnesty International’s Nigeria director Isa Sanusi told The Associated Press, referring to the casualties.
“We are in touch with the people there, we have talked to the hospital,” he said. “We talked to the person in charge of the casualties, and we also talked to the victims.”
A staff at Geidam General Hospital in Yobe said at least 23 people injured in the incident were being treated. The activist spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
As such Misfire is common In Nigeria, where the military often uses airstrikes to fight armed groups that control vast forest enclaves. At least 500 civilians have died in such misfires since 2017, according to an AP tally of reported deaths. Security analysts point to lapses in intelligence gathering as well as inadequate coordination between ground troops, air assets and stakeholders.
The large, remote market, located near the Borno-Yobe border, is believed to be used most frequently. boko haram To buy jihadi food items.
Abdulmumin Bulama, a member of a civil defense group working with the Nigerian army in the northeast, said there was intelligence that Boko Haram militants had gathered very close to the market and were planning attacks on nearby communities.
“Information was shared and the air force jets took action based on credible information,” Bulama said.
The Yobe state government confirmed in a statement that the Nigerian military strike had targeted a stronghold of the Boko Haram jihadist group in the area and that “some people… who had gone to the Jilli weekly market were affected.”
The Yobe State Emergency Management Agency also acknowledged that an incident had occurred which resulted in “some marketers being affected” and said it had dispatched response teams to the area.
Nigeria’s military issued a statement saying it carried out a successful attack on a “terrorist enclave and logistics hub” belonging to jihadists in the area, killing several people riding on motorcycles. It gave no details about the possible misfire, but noted that motorcycles are prohibited in conflict hot spots and “therefore any such activity in restricted areas is taken extremely seriously.”
Amnesty International has called for an independent investigation into the incident, and said the military is “fond” of labeling civilian casualties as bandits.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is grappling with a complex security crisis, particularly in the north, where there has been a decade of insurgency and multiple armed groups that kidnap for ransom.
The most prominent Islamic terrorist groups are Boko Haram and its splinter group, which is affiliated with the Islamic State group and known as Islamic State West Africa Province. The IS-linked Lakurawa group is also active in communities in the northwestern part of the country bordering Niger Republic.
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Shibayan reported from Abuja, Nigeria.
