Over 100 Civilians Killed after Nigerian Military Airstrike Hits Yobe Market
A Nigerian Air Force strike targeting jihadi rebels struck a local market in northeastern Nigeria, killing over 100 civilians and injuring many others. Officials confirmed it was a misfire, but did not provide further details.
Survivors reported that at least 100 people were killed in the airstrike on Saturday in a village in Yobe state. Yobe borders Borno state, the epicenter of the escalating jihadi uprising. The jihadi are an armed terrorist group who uphold radical Salafi-Islamist agendas and have destroyed the area for over a decade.
“We have their pictures and they include children,” Isa Sanusi, a Nigeria director of Amnesty International, a global non-governmental organization that focuses on human rights, said, referring to the incident.
“We are in touch with people that are there, we spoke with the hospital,” he said. “We spoke with the person in charge of casualties, and we spoke with the victims.”
An employee at the Geidam General Hospital in Yobe also added that at least 23 people were injured in the incident and are currently receiving treatment, according to The Associated Press.
Misfires are a common occurrence in Nigeria, as the military often conducts air raids to fight armed groups such as the jihadi rebels.
However, due to gaps in intelligence gathering, as well as insufficient coordination between ground troops, air assets, and stakeholders, there have been at least 500 civilians who have perished since 2017 due to misfires, The Associated Press reported.
Located near the Borno-Yobe border, the market is a frequent supply hub for Boko Haram. Abdulmumin Bulama, a civilian security operative, stated that signs pointed to a terrorist assembly near the market in preparation for attacks on local communities.
“The intel was shared and the air force jet acted based on the credible information,” the official added.
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