Military air strike kills at least 20 people in northwest Nigeria

At least 20 people have been killed by a military airstrike in northwest Nigeria, according to local residents and the military, prompting human rights organizations to launch an investigation into the attack.

One of the areas most susceptible to violence from armed groups, known as “bandits,” was Zamfara state, where the strike took place over the weekend.

According to intelligence, “a significant number of terrorists were massing and preparing to strike unsuspecting settlements,” the Nigerian Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame stated.

According to a statement from Ejodame, “Further intelligence confirmed that the bandits killed some farmers and kidnapped a number of civilians, including women and children,” adding that the crossfire also left two local vigilantes dead and two others injured.

However, residents who were cited by the AFP news agency claimed that a group of neighborhood vigilantes were mistakenly bombed by a military jet.

Villagers who had earlier been attacked earlier this weekend had called in the air force. Unknown number of people were also hurt in the strike, according to locals.

According to Buhari Dangulbi, a resident of the affected area, “we were hit by double tragedy on Saturday.” “Bandits attacked the bandits to save them, and they attacked dozens of our people and a number of cows.” Twenty of them were killed.

Residents in the Maru district reported to AFP that the bandits had earlier robbed several people and taken cattle from Mani and Wabi villages. In response, vigilantes launched a search for the slain livestock and the captives.

According to Abdullahi Ali, a Mani resident and member of a local hunters’ militia, “the military aircraft arrived and started firing, killing at least 20 of our people.”

Ishiye Kabiru, a resident, said, “Our vigilantes from Maraya and nearby communities gathered and pursued the bandits.” A military jet, sadly, struck them.

The area’s Alka Tanimu continued, “We will still have to pay to get those kidnapped back, while the cows are permanently gone.”

Amnesty International urged a thorough investigation and condemned the strike.

The rights group claimed that while attacking villages by bandits clearly warrants a state response, it is against the law to repeatedly launch reckless air strikes into villages.

Nigeria’s military has previously acknowledged accidentally striking civilians while conducting airstrikes against armed gangs.

In Zamfara’s Zurmi district, at least 16 vigilantes were killed in a similar strike in January.

More than 100 people were killed in Mutunji village in December 2022 as bandits pursued them. At least 85 people were killed in an attack on a religious gathering in Kaduna state a year later.