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A recent airstrike conducted by the Nigerian military has resulted in catastrophic civilian casualties, with reports indicating that as many as 200 individuals lost their lives when a busy market in the north-east was bombed. This incident, which occurred on Saturday in Jilli market, located on the border of Borno and Yobe states, has sparked outrage and raised serious questions about the military’s operational strategies in its ongoing anti-terror campaign.
Civilian Casualties and Military Justifications
The airstrike targeted what the military described as a “known terrorist enclave” belonging to the Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap). However, local authorities and survivors have vehemently disputed this claim, stating that numerous innocent civilians were present at the market during the attack. Local councillor Lawan Zanna Nur Geidam confirmed that the death toll exceeded 200, while Amnesty International has reported that at least 100 individuals were killed, with the figure likely to rise.
In a statement released via social media, military spokesperson Sani Uba asserted that the operation was a “precision airstrike” based on sustained intelligence. “Post-strike assessment confirmed that the target area was struck with high accuracy, resulting in the destruction of the identified terrorist logistics enclave,” Uba claimed. While the military maintains that it neutralised several terrorists, many survivors, including market-goer Mala Garba, have expressed disbelief, insisting that the victims were ordinary civilians. “We are just ordinary people,” Garba said from his hospital bed in Maiduguri, Borno’s state capital.
Local and International Responses
The tragic incident has ignited a flurry of criticism from both local residents and international human rights organisations. Yobe state military adviser Brig Gen Dahiru Abdulsalam acknowledged that civilians were indeed affected, stating, “Some people who went to the Jilli weekly market were affected.” Experts in the region have pointed out that while Iswap has a presence in the area, it is implausible for an airstrike to differentiate between combatants and civilians in such a crowded setting.
Malik Samuel, a researcher with Good Governance Africa, has questioned the military’s tactics, suggesting that it would have been more prudent to monitor individuals leaving the market rather than executing a strike in a populated area. The military’s history of civilian casualties is alarming; reports indicate that at least 500 non-combatants have been killed by airstrikes since 2017. Past incidents include a 2017 bombing of a displaced persons camp in Borno and airstrikes on a religious gathering in Kaduna state that resulted in over 120 fatalities.
Accountability and Trust Issues
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