An airstrike carried out by the Nigerian military targeting jihadist militants killed at least 100 people in northeast Nigeria, The Guardian reports on statements made by Amnesty International and local media after talking to survivors of the incident. Officials confirmed a misfire, though they did not provide further details.
The airstrike was carried out on a village in Yobe state at the boundary with Borno state, which has been the center of a jihadist insurgency by terrorist groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State that has left the region war-torn for more than a decade.
The Nigerian military often conducts airstrikes as part of its war against jihadist terrorist groups who use forest enclaves. These airstrikes have killed at least 500 civilians since 2017 according to a tally by Associated Press. Security analysts often point to loopholes in intelligence gathering as well as insufficient coordination among ground troops, air assets and stakeholders as reasons for civilian casualties.
The Yobe state government confirmed the airstrike by the Nigerian military, stating that the strike targeted a stronghold of the Boko Haram jihadist group in the area and that “some people … who went to the Jilli weekly market were affected.”
