Nigeria: Several dozen civilians killed in army airstrikes targeting criminal gangs.

The Nigerian army has killed at least 72 people, including many civilians, in a bombing on the bustling market of Tumfa in Zamfara state (northwest), said Garba Ibrahim Mashema, specifying that some bodies were “unrecognizable.”

“Residents of the communities of Kwashabawa, Birane, Kware, Gangara, and Manawa were affected by the strike,” added the community leader.

“Up to now, we have collected 72 bodies and the injured have been taken to hospitals in the cities of Zurmi and Shinkafi,” he said.

“Their stronghold, their territory”

The Nigerian branch of Amnesty International reported “at least 100 civilians” killed, while Aliyu Musa, a resident of the town, reported 117 deaths.

“117 bodies have been recovered, and over 80 people have been injured. The numbers could increase as the situation becomes clearer,” he said.

“To be honest, the Tumfa market is under the control of the bandits. It is their stronghold: anyone who goes there knows they are entering their territory,” emphasized Aliyu Musa.

In a statement on Sunday, the army said it conducted ground and aerial operations “following credible intelligence indicating a high-level meeting of notorious terrorist leaders and commanders” in the region.

“Military airstrikes”

Divisional General Michael Onoja, spokesman for the Defense Headquarters, dismissed as “false” information about civilians killed in Zamfara state.

Like several other states in northwest and central Nigeria, Zamfara has been plagued for years by violence from armed criminal groups locally known as “bandits,” specializing in livestock theft and kidnappings for ransom.

These groups, with no overt ideology, regularly carry out bloody raids in villages, killing residents, and burning down houses after looting them.

They are armed groups that have sometimes clashed with jihadists but have also collaborated with them against common targets.

During the same day on Sunday, at least 13 civilians were killed by an army airstrike in Niger state (north-central), residents said, with the army stating they targeted “terrorists.”

“It was not intentional. I offer my condolences to the families of the victims, we ask for forgiveness for what happened,” explained the president of the local government council of Shiroro, Isyaku Bawa.

A resident, John Ezra, from the village of Kusasu, claimed that the villagers “were not close to the terrorist hideout, but our houses were bombed.”

Meanwhile, “bandits” killed 30 travelers on the Magami-Dansadu road in the same state of Zamfara on Sunday, according to a security report prepared for the UN.

Information about the toll of the Nigerian army’s operations and attacks by the armed groups it fights often take several days to emerge from isolated rural areas.

In the past, airstrikes have cost civilians their lives in Nigeria. The ensuing investigations generally do not lead to any concrete results.