Nigeria Air Force orders investigation after dozens killed in airstrike

The Nigerian Air Force says it has launched an investigation after dozens of civilians were reportedly killed in an airstrike on a market on Saturday.

The strike happened at Jilli market, along the border between Borno and Yobe states, as military aircraft were hunting Islamist militants. Local residents and Amnesty International say more than 100 people lost their lives.

Authorities have yet to confirm the death toll, but some hospitals in Yobe state say they are treating those injured.

In a statement, the Nigerian Air Force said it had sent a team “to immediately proceed to the location on a fact-finding mission on the allegation”.

One of those receiving treatment at hospital said he had gone to the market to buy animals when he was hit.

“I was with about 30 people and we all fell down after being struck,” he told Reuters news agency.

Nigeria’s military on Sunday confirmed the strike in a statement, saying it had targeted a location in Jilli “long identified as a major terrorist movement corridor and convergence point for Islamic State West Africa Province terrorists and their collaborators”.

Describing it as “a carefully, well-coordinated planned and intelligence-driven operation”, the military 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 said “scores of terrorists” were killed in the strike, but did not mention any civilian casualties.

Citing a councillor in Yobe’s Geidam district, Lawan Zanna Nur Geidam, as well as three residents and an official from an international humanitarian agency, Reuters said up to 200 people might have been killed.

“It’s a very devastating incident,” said Zanna Nur Geidam, who said the injured had been taken to hospitals in Yobe and Borno.

Ahmed Ali, a 43-year-old market trader, told Reuters he was injured in the blast.

“I became so scared and attempted to run away, but a friend dragged me and we all lay on the ground,” he said.

Amnesty International said on X that there were “more than 100 dead” and 35 people seriously wounded.

“We have their pictures and they include children,” Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International’s Nigeria director, told the Associated Press.

“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,” he said.

Local councillor Zanna Nur Geidam, however, said “the total casualties, dead and injured, is around 200”.

Many were taken to hospitals in nearby Geidam and Maiduguri, he added, where at least eight more of the wounded had died on Sunday.

“We are talking of dozens dead but it is difficult to give a specific toll,” he said.

Nigeria’s north‑east has seen several incidents in recent years in which military air operations against Islamist insurgents have mistakenly hit civilians, including in villages, camps for displaced people and markets.