Nigerian Air Force strikes targeting Boko Haram terror group have hit a local market in northeastern Nigeria, killing dozens and wounding many others, a rights group and local media reported.
Officials confirmed a misfire but did not provide details, AP reported.
Nigeria’s Air Force said it had killed Boko Haram members in the Jilli axis in Borno State, but in a statement released to Reuters on Sunday, it did not mention hitting a market.
The air strikes occurred on Saturday, and the death tolls differed according to the sources.
A rights group said on X that there were “more than 100 dead” and 35 people seriously wounded, while a local chief spoke of “200 dead and wounded”.
Amnesty International said it confirmed from survivors that at least 100 people were killed in the air strike on a village in Yobe state near the border with Borno state, the epicentre of the insurgency ravaging the region for over a decade.
Lawan Zanna Nur Geidam, the councillor and traditional head of Fuchimeram Ward in Yobe’s Geidam District, told Reuters that those wounded were being taken to hospitals in Yobe and Borno.
“It’s a very devastating incident at Jilli Market. 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.
Three other residents and an official from an international humanitarian agency confirmed the strike and likely death toll.
The Yobe State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) said it had received preliminary reports of an incident at Jilli Market, which reportedly resulted in casualties affecting some marketers, and had activated emergency response.
Ahmed Ali, a 43-year-old resident who sells medical consumables at the market, said he had been injured in a blast.
“I became so scared and attempted to run away, but a friend dragged me, and we all lay on the ground,” he said from the hospital.
