Nigeria’s military is contesting reports of civilian deaths after an airstrike hit a market in Tumfa town in Zamfara state, renewing debate over how effectively the government’s forces are able to target militants in a conflict zone. The dispute centers on Sunday’s strike, which Amnesty International’s Nigeria office said killed at least 100 civilians, some of them children, at the market, and which a Red Cross official confirmed to The Associated Press involved “multiple civilians” killed.
Amnesty International Nigeria said the airstrike at the market in Tumfa town killed at least 100 people, including children, according to the AP report. The statement said the strike occurred on Sunday.
In the same report, a Red Cross official in Zamfara state confirmed the airstrike to The Associated Press and said “multiple civilians” were killed. The AP report carried the Red Cross account as an independent confirmation of civilian deaths associated with the strike.
Nigeria’s military, however, denied killing civilians. Maj. Gen. Michael Onoja confirmed that an airstrike took place at the market but said there was “no verifiable evidence of civilian casualties,” and said military operations continued in the area.
The disagreement has revived broader questions about Nigeria’s air campaign against armed groups in the north. The AP report says airstrikes have killed hundreds of civilians over the past years, with SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based research firm, saying the military has killed over 500 civilians with airstrikes since 2017, based on reports and data gathered from affected villages.
The AP report describes why airstrikes are central to Nigeria’s counterinsurgency approach in the north: fighters often move in large numbers on motorcycles through remote forests and villages that ground troops may struggle to reach. Armed groups in Nigeria besides Boko Haram operate across parts of the northwest and central regions, the report said, and some carry out mass killings and kidnappings for ransom, while also extorting “taxes” from communities to fund operations.
According to the AP report, Nigerian authorities say civilian deaths during airstrikes are difficult to avoid because armed groups may use civilians as human shields. The report also points to a quote from Nigeria’s former President Muhammadu Buhari, who said that “Bandits and terrorists, unlike professional soldiers, don’t respect the rules of engagement. They don’t care about killing their hostages if they come under attack,” as context for why officials cite civilian shielding in airstrike incidents.
Analysts cited by the AP said the frequency of civilian deaths may also reflect gaps in intelligence gathering and coordination among ground troops, air assets and stakeholders. Senator Iroegbu, an Abuja-based security analyst, said those factors can contribute to mistaken strikes that harm civilians.
The AP report says Nigeria’s government and military often promise investigations after airstrikes that kill civilians, but analysts say such inquiries do not always lead to improvements. In 2024, the AP report said the military took a rare measure to prosecute two of its personnel over an airstrike that killed over 80 civilians in Kaduna state, and it also promised to release the report of its investigation but has not done so.
The report also says Nigeria needs improvements in pilot training and development and upgrades in aircraft and targeting systems, citing Oluwole Ojewale of the Africa-focused Institute for Security Studies. Ojewale said the military also needs to build trust with local communities, whose intelligence on armed group movements is described as crucial for accurately targeting militants.
The AP report said the Trump administration has sent troops and drones for intelligence and logistics support to Nigeria’s military, but it is not clear from the reporting whether U.S.-provided intelligence was used in the latest strike.