Northeastern Nigeria is at the center of escalating controversy after an alleged accidental air strike by the Nigerian military on a busy weekly village market near the Yobe-Borno state border left scores of civilians feared dead, in what would be the latest in a string of deadly civilian casualties from counter-insurgency operations targeting Boko Haram militants.
The strike occurred Saturday on the Jilli market in Borno State’s Gubio local government area, during what the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) described as a “mop-up” operation against remaining terrorist factions. In an official statement, the NAF confirmed it carried out targeted strikes on what it labeled as “identified terrorist locations” in the Jilli axis, noting the mission was designed to eliminate fleeing insurgent remnants and regrouping cells that have taken advantage of the region’s rugged, hard-to-access terrain to rebuild their networks. The service has so far declined to confirm it hit the market or verify any civilian casualties from the operation.
This zone of northeastern Nigeria has been the epicenter of a 15-year Boko Haram insurgency that has left more than 35,000 people dead and displaced over 2 million residents, with frequent military operations targeting insurgent strongholds near the Yobe-Borno border. The Jilli weekly market draws hundreds of traders and shoppers from cross-border communities in both states, making it a busy gathering point for local commerce at the time of the strike.
As of Sunday, official casualty counts remain deeply conflicting across local and international sources. Citing multiple on-the-ground sources including a Yobe state councillor, three local residents, and an official from an international humanitarian organization, Reuters reported Saturday that at least 200 civilians were killed in the strike, with injured survivors transported to medical facilities in both Yobe and Borno states. Local councillor Lawan Zanna Nur Geidam called the event “a very devastating incident”. Two other major Nigerian national outlets, The Sun and Punch, have cited local sources putting the death toll at 10, with an unspecified number of additional people wounded. Abuja-based newspaper Daily Trust, meanwhile, cited an eyewitness account reporting at least 56 fatalities and 14 hospitalizations.
Ahmed Ali, a 43-year-old trader who was at the market during the strike and sustained injuries, described the chaos of the attack to Reuters: “I became so scared and attempted to run away, but a friend dragged me and we all lay on the ground.”
State emergency authorities have acknowledged the incident but have not confirmed a casualty count. In a Sunday Facebook post, the Yobe State Emergency Management Agency said it had received preliminary reports of an incident at Jilli Market that caused casualties among market participants, noting it had immediately activated emergency response protocols and deployed assessment teams to the remote area. The agency added that key details including the nature of the incident and the final number of casualties remain unverified as of Sunday. Brigadier General Dahiru Abdulsalam also confirmed via Facebook that residents from Yobe’s Geidam local government area, which borders the strike site in Borno, were among those affected.
Amnesty International’s Nigeria branch has issued a sharp condemnation of the strike, putting the confirmed death toll at more than 100 people. In a post on the social platform X, the organization argued that “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.”
This incident fits a documented pattern of repeated civilian casualties from Nigerian military counter-insurgency operations in the northeast over the past decade. Military air strikes targeting Islamist militants have previously mistakenly hit civilian sites including residential villages, camps for internally displaced persons, and public marketplaces, drawing ongoing criticism from human rights groups over inadequate safeguards to protect civilian populations.