Nigerian Military Airstrike Kills 20 Civilians, Injures Dozens in Zamfara
The accidental military airstrike in Tungar Kara, Nigeria’s northwest, is the second incident in less than three weeks resulting in civilian casualties.
Less than three weeks after a military airstrike killed ten civilians in the Gidan Bisa and Rumtuwa area of Sokoto in northwestern Nigeria, another tragedy has struck in the region. At least 20 people have been killed and many more injured after a military aircraft targeted Tungar Kara in the Maradun area of Zamfara State.
The airstrike, intended to neutralise terror groups, instead hit civilians, local vigilantes, and members of the state-backed security outfit Askarawa. Residents told HumAngle that the victims had mobilised to repel a band of terrorists who were trying to rustle some cattle in the villages when the fighter jet shelled the area.
The terrorists had fled before the airstrike, which mistakenly targeted the locals, misidentifying them as terrorists. “There was an attack on the community, prompting the residents to call for help. The local Yansakai [a vigilante group] and community protection guards showed up and were able to chase the terrorists away. It’s on their way back that the jet mistook them as the terrorists,” a source told HumAngle.
At least 19 military airstrikes in the past decade, including the latest in Tungar Kara, have mistakenly hit Nigerian civilians instead of their intended terrorist targets. These errors have claimed over 400 lives, injured hundreds more, and violated humanitarian laws that mandate minimal harm to civilians during conflict.
Analysts have raised concerns about the gap in the military’s air-to-ground integration as one of the reasons the military has repeatedly mistargeted civilians during air raids, limiting the ability to access real-time intelligence on targets. Effective air-to-ground integration typically relies on real-time intelligence sharing between ground forces and military aircraft. However, Nigeria’s military often conducts airstrikes spontaneously, without sufficient collaboration with local intelligence gatherers or ground troops. This lack of coordination continues to fuel deadly mistakes.
Unfortunately, the military hardly acknowledges these mistakes or provides information to support victims, including measures to mitigate future mishaps.
Human rights organisations and security analysts warn that the recurring airstrikes on civilian settlements have profound and far-reaching consequences for counterterrorism efforts in the region. “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,” Amnesty International said in a statement.
The northwestern region has been a stronghold for terror groups for over a decade now. These terrorists have relentlessly attacked and raided rural villages across the region, imposing levies on communities, and forcing residents to work on farmlands confiscated. This conflict, which began as a face-off between farmers and herders, among other factors, has claimed more than 20,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes.
A military airstrike intended to target terror groups in Tungar Kara, Zamfara State, Nigeria, mistakenly killed at least 20 civilians, adding to previous similar incidents in the region.
The victims, including local vigilantes and the state-backed security outfit Askarawa, were attempting to repel terrorists who had fled before the strike. This incident highlights a recurring issue with Nigerian military airstrikes misidentifying targets, attributed to poor air-to-ground coordination and lack of real-time intelligence.
These repeated military errors have resulted in over 400 civilian deaths in the past decade, violating humanitarian laws and undermining counterterrorism efforts. Despite these tragedies, the Nigerian military has not consistently acknowledged the errors or offered support to victims. Human rights organizations criticize the recklessness of such operations, noting significant harm to the region already destabilized by a long-standing conflict between local communities and terror groups, which has caused over 20,000 deaths and massive displacements.
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