Dozens of people in northeastern Nigeria have been killed in airstrikes carried out by Nigeria's military, which claimed to be targeting jihadists, local residents and NGOs said Sunday.
The airstrikes on the village of Jilli, in Yobe State, occurred on Saturday, with the death tolls differing according to the sources.
Nigerian military jets struck the village market while pursuing Islamist militants in the northeast of the country on Saturday night, a councillor for the area and residents said on Sunday.
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A UN security report seen by French news agency AFP first stated that "4 Nigerian Air Force (NAF) fighter jets launched airstrikes that mistakenly killed at least 56 people and injured 14 others at the Jilli market... on 11 April."
"This occurred during a military operation targeting Boko Haram fighters who visited the market to conduct terrorism activities," it added.
Amnesty International initially said on social media that there were "more than 100 dead" and 35 people seriously injured when the attack happened.
Local chief Lawan Zanna Nur Geidam described it as "a devastating incident".
"As I'm speaking to you, over 200 people have lost their lives from the air strike at the market," he said in a telephone interview with Reuters.
He said injured people had been taken to hospitals in Yobe and Borno.
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Crossfire
Nigeria's military first said it had "successfully conducted a precision air strike on a known terrorist enclave and logistics hub located near the abandoned village of Jilli". It added that "scores of terrorists" were killed in the strike, but did not mention any civilian deaths.
In a separate statement, the air force announced it had launched an investigation following reports that its airstrike "may have affected a local market in Jilli, resulting in civilian casualties".
The Nigerian Air Force said in its statement it had activated its Civilian Harm Accident and Investigation Cell "to immediately proceed to the location on a fact-finding mission on the allegation".
The government of Yobe state later said in its own statement that an air strike on the area had been conducted near a market where shoppers and vendors had gathered.
"Some people from Geidam LGA (local government area) bordering Gubio LGA in Borno state who went to the Jilli weekly market were affected," said Brigadier General Dahiru Abdulsalam, military adviser to the Yobe state government. He gave no further details.
Mistaken targets
The strike occurred on the border between Yobe and Borno states, the heartland of the long-running insurgency that has killed thousands of people and displaced millions more over the years.
Africa's most populous country has been fighting a jihadist insurgency for 17 years, since Boko Haram's 2009 uprising, which has seen the emergence of powerful splinter groups including Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
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This strike is the latest in a series of such incidents in the north of the country.
In January 2025, a military airstrike killed at least 16 people in northwestern Zamfara state after an army jet mistook local vigilantes for criminal gangs.
A month earlier, a military jet killed 10 people when it hit villages while bombing jihadist positions in neighbouring Sokoto state.
International scrutiny and US involvement
Jihadist violence had slowed from its peak in around 2015 but Boko Haram and ISWAP have recently increased attacks in northeastern Nigeria vying to establish a caliphate.
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Researchers have noted a rise in violence since last year. More than 100 people in the north have been killed over the last 10 days by both jihadists and criminal gangs.
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Nigeria is facing international scrutiny over its security situation, including pressure from US President Donald Trump, who ordered bombardments on Islamists militants last Christmas.
Earlier this year the United States began deploying 200 troops to Nigeria to provide technical and training support to soldiers in fighting jihadist groups.
In the face of pressure to tackle insecurity, Nigeria's Justice Minister Lateef Fagbemi on Friday said the government had brought to court 508 cases and convicted nearly 386 people for links to jihadists groups terrorism in a mass trial.
(with newswires)
