The army kills around fifteen innocent people by mistake

At least 16 people were killed in a military airstrike in Nigeria’s northwest Zamfara state after a pilot mistook local vigilante groups for criminal gangs, residents said today. Sunday to AFP.

It was the second deadly accidental airstrike targeting civilians since the army bombed two villages on Christmas Day while targeting jihadists in neighboring Sokoto state.

The Nigerian army is battling criminal gangs, locally known as bandits, who have for years terrorized communities in northwest and central Nigeria, raiding villages, killing and kidnapping residents for ransom, and burning homes. after having looted them.

Late Saturday, a military plane hit a group of residents who had mobilized from several neighboring villages to confront armed bandits who had attacked the village of Dangebe, in the district of Zurmi, taking away livestock and burning the houses, residents said.

“Residents were returning to their villages after chasing away bandits who attacked Dangebe when the fighter jet bombed them just as they reached Tungar Kara village,” said resident Sa’idu Ibrahim.

“Sixteen bodies were found, but the toll could rise because the search continues this morning,” said Bube Namare, another resident. Asked by AFP, the army did not immediately respond.

Repeated accidents

The Nigerian authorities “must carry out an immediate and impartial investigation into the airstrike on Saturday evening which killed at least 20 people in the village of Tungar Kara,” declared the NGO Amnesty International on its X account overnight. “Dozens of injured people are currently in critical condition and have no access to medical care,” according to the NGO.

This is not the first time that the army in Nigeria has caused civilian casualties while fighting against criminal or jihadist groups. In December 2023, an airstrike mistakenly targeted a gathering of Muslim worshipers in Tudun Biri (Northwest Kaduna State), killing at least 85 people.

In January 2017, at least 112 people were killed when a fighter jet struck a camp housing 40,000 people displaced by jihadist violence in Rann, near the border with Cameroon.

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