At least 200 feared dead after Nigerian air strike hits busy village market
Nigerian Air Force launches investigation into civilian casualties at Jilli Market as it targeted jihadists
At least 200 people were feared dead after Nigerian military jets struck a village market while pursuing Islamist militants in the northeast of the country on Saturday night, a councillor for the area and residents said on Sunday.
The Nigerian Air Force, responding to reports of civilian casualties, said in a statement it had activated its Civilian Harm Accident and Investigation Cell “to immediately proceed to the location on a fact-finding mission on the allegation”.
Earlier, the Air Force said it had killed Boko Haram militants in the Jilli axis in Borno state.
The government of neighbouring Yobe state later said in a statement that an air strike on the area had been conducted near a market where shoppers and vendors had gathered.
“Some people from Geidam LGA (local government area) bordering Gubio LGA in Borno state who went to the Jilli weekly market were affected,” said Brigadier General Dahiru Abdulsalam, military adviser to the Yobe state government.
He gave no further details.
The strike occurred in a village in Yobe on the border with Borno, the heartland of a long-running insurgency that has killed thousands of people and displaced millions more.