At least 16 civilians were killed in Zamfara state, northwestern Nigeria, in a military air strike, after they were apparently suspected of being criminal gangs.
Residents told local media that the victims were members of local vigilante groups and civilians defending themselves against armed gangs known for kidnapping people for ransom.
The strikes targeted armed gangs in Zormi and Maradun areas, and the state governor, Dawud Lawal, offered his condolences to the community.
The army admitted carrying out air strikes, which it said dealt “a decisive blow to the bandits who are terrorizing villages in the region.”
The Nigerian Air Force said it was investigating “reports of vigilante casualties.”
“While the operation succeeded in eliminating many bandits and led to the recovery of some kidnapped victims, the National Air Force views with grave concern reports of loss of civilian lives during the operation,” she said in a statement.
She said the ongoing “thorough investigation” would confirm the truth of the matter, and it would be “reported to inform and reassure the public.”
Agence France-Presse quoted a local resident as saying that the civilians were returning to their villages after chasing bandits when they were bombed.
Saidu Ibrahim was quoted as saying that villagers “recovered 16 bodies from the attacks and took several other seriously injured people to hospital.”
The Nigerian human rights organization Amnesty International estimated the death toll at 20 and said that dozens of others were injured in the attack on the village of Tonga Kara, and called on the authorities to conduct an “immediate and impartial” investigation into the incident.
“Conducting air strikes is not a legitimate means of law enforcement by anyone’s standards,” she said in a statement. “Such reckless use of lethal force is unlawful and outrageous and exposes the Nigerian military’s shocking disregard for the lives of those it is supposed to be there to protect.” .
In recent years, Nigerian security forces have been battling powerful criminal gangs, known as bandits, that have been terrorizing the northwestern and central states. Bandits raid villages, burn homes, kill and kidnap residents for ransom.
There have been several accidental air strikes in recent months, including a Christmas Day attack that killed at least 10 civilians in neighboring Sokoto state.
In 2023, at least 85 civilians, mostly women and children, attending an Islamic religious gathering in a village in Kaduna State, were killed after being mistaken for bandits.
In January 2017, at least 112 people were killed when a fighter jet bombed a camp housing 40,000 people displaced by jihadist violence in a town near the Cameroonian border.
