Nigerian military kill at least 16 civilians in air strike mistake
Approximately 16 civilians in Zamfara State, Nigeria have been killed in a military air strike. According to BBC News on January 13th, this was due to mistaken identity as the military was operating under the impression those killed were part of criminal gangs.
Local residents reported to media that the victims were in fact members of local vigilante groups comprising of civilians defending themselves and others from the criminal gangs.
The strikes were intended to target militant gangs responsible for kidnappings in Zurmi and Maradun.
The state governor, Dauda Lawal, has offered his condolences to the affected communities.
The military has acknowledged the air strikes, stating they are “a decisive blow to bandits terrorising villages in the area”.
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) said it will investigate “reports of vigilante losses”.
The Nigerian Air Force went on to state: “While the operation successfully eliminated several bandits and led to the recovery of some kidnap victims, the NAF views with grave concern reports of the loss of civilian lives in the course of the operation.”
They will now conduct a “comprehensive investigation” into the failures of the strike, the results of which will be made public.
Civilians were returning to their villages after chasing away bandits when the airstrikes began.
16 bodies from the attacks were recovered while several other people have been taken to hospital due to severe injuries sustained in the attacks.
Human Rights group Amnesty International Nigeria have estimated the death toll to currently stand at 20, stating how dozens of others were injured in the attack on Tunga Kara village.
Amnesty has called upon authorities to “immediately and impartially” investigate the incident
They stated: “Launching air raids is not a legitimate law enforcement method by anyone’s standard. Such reckless use of deadly force is unlawful, outrageous and lays bare the Nigerian military’s shocking disregard for the lives of those it supposedly exists to protect.”
Several similar incidents have occurred in Nigeria during the last few years.
This includes a Christmas Day attack that killed at least 10 civilians in neighbouring Sokoto state. As well as this, In 2023, 85 civilians were killed whilst attending a Muslim religious gathering in Kaduna, this was also due to them being mistaken for bandits.
Prior to these more recent incidents, in January 2017 112 people were killed by a jet as it hit a camp housing 40,000 people near the Cameroonian border.
In recent years, Nigeria has faced these powerful criminal gangs, also known as bandits, as they terrorise both north-west and central states. The destruction caused has been devastating with the bandits raiding villages, burning homes down and killing or abducting civilians for ransom money.
BBC News, Voice of America, Africa Centre
