Nigeria’s military denied a rights group’s claim that an airstrike on Sunday killed civilians at a market in Tumfa, Zamfara state, drawing renewed scrutiny to the danger of civilian harm in fighting across the country’s volatile north. The dispute came as the conflict between government forces and armed groups continued in the region.
Amnesty International said the airstrike hit the market in Tumfa and reported civilian casualties based on local accounts. In a statement to the Associated Press, the group’s Nigeria director, Isa Sanusi, said that in “one village alone, 80 people were buried” and that there was “no evidence that any of those people killed is a bandit.” Sanusi said, “They are all civilians. The majority of them are young girls and small boys.”
A Red Cross official in Zamfara state, Ibrahim Bello Garba, confirmed the strike to the Associated Press and said “multiple civilians” were killed. His account aligned with the Red Cross’s confirmation of the strike but did not match Amnesty’s reported casualty figure.
Nigeria’s military confirmed an airstrike to the Associated Press, but said it had not established evidence of civilian deaths. In response to the Amnesty allegation, a spokesperson for the military, Maj. Gen. Michael Onoja, said “no verifiable evidence of civilian casualties as being suggested in the media has been established.”
Onoja said the military was trying to avoid civilian harm, saying “Civilians are not the target, and everything is being done to avoid civilian casualties,” and that operations were continuing in the area. The account framed the strike as part of ongoing military operations against armed groups in Zamfara.
The Amnesty allegation follows earlier scrutiny of airstrikes that resulted in civilian deaths in Nigeria. Last month, an accidental strike by Nigeria’s air force killed 100 people, according to the Associated Press report that this cluster draws from. Analysts have blamed such incidents on a lack of coordination between air force crews and personnel on the ground.
In regions where armed groups operate, the Associated Press report said armed groups often mix with locals, which can complicate efforts to distinguish combatants from civilians and verify what happened after airstrikes.
As Nigeria’s military and rights groups continue to exchange competing assessments, the episode underscores how difficult it can be to establish the full facts of civilian harm in fast-moving operations in the north. It also reflects how verification battles can shape public understanding even when both sides agree an airstrike occurred.