At least 16 civilians were killed in a military air raid in the northwestern Nigerian state of Zamfara after a pilot mistook local self-defence forces for criminal gangs, residents told AFP on Sunday.
The incident was the second deadly accidental airstrike to target civilians since the December 25 bombing of two villages in a raid targeting jihadists in neighbouring Sokoto state.
Nigeria’s military has been fighting criminal gangs, known locally as bandits, who have long terrorised communities in northwestern and central Nigeria. The fighters raid villages, kill and abduct residents for ransom and burn homes after looting them.
Late on Saturday, a military jet hit a group of residents who mobilised from several neighbouring villages to confront gunmen who had attacked Dangebe village in Zurmi district, carting away livestock and burning homes, residents said.
“The group was returning to their villages after chasing away the bandits who attacked Dangebe when the fighter jet bombed them on reaching Tungar Kara village,” said one local, Sa’idu Ibrahim.
He said villagers “recovered 16 bodies from the attacks and took several other people with severe injuries to the hospital”.
Residents of Dangebe had phoned around 15 neighbouring villages asking for help against motorcycle-riding gunmen who stormed the village, burning their homes and stealing their livestock, said Bube Namare, another local resident.
“Sixteen bodies have been found but the toll may go up as (the) search for more bodies is going on this morning,” Namare said.
Lieutenant-Colonel Abubakar Abdullahi, military spokesman for troops in the region did not respond to an AFP inquiry into the incident.
Amnesty International put the death toll at 20. In a statement on Sunday, the rights watchdog called on Nigerian authorities to “immediately and impartially investigate the… airstrike that killed at least 20 people at Tungar Kara village”.
There have been several similar incidents in the past of bombings of civilians in the military’s battle against jihadists and bandits in the northeast and northwest.
In December 2023, a Nigerian military airstrike mistook a Muslim religious gathering for bandits in Tudun Biri community in northwestern Kaduna state, killing at least 85 people, mostly women and children.
In January 2017, at least 112 people were killed when a fighter jet struck a camp housing 40,000 people displaced by jihadist violence in the town of Rann near the border with Cameroon.
© Agence France-Presse
