At least 20 people, including members of a local vigilante group, have been killed in a mistargeted airstrike by the Nigerian Air Force.
The incident happened in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State, the hometown of the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle.
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PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the local vigilantes killed in the airstrike were members of the Zamfara Community Protection Guard.
The incident occurred on Saturday night, 11 January, at Tungar Kara, a community in Maradun LGA where both the Air Force and the victims of the airstrike were reportedly repelling an attack by terrorists.
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A resident, Salisu Maradun, told PREMIUM TIMES that the vigilantes had mobilised to defend the community alongside other residents when they were struck by the airstrike while trying to retrieve rustled animals from the fleeing bandits.
Mr Maradun said the victims were residents of various communities who came in solidarity to support an attacked community.
Residents said the attack left at least 20 people killed, with several yet to be accounted for as of Sunday afternoon.
The Air Force spokesperson, Olusola Akinboyewa, could not be immediately reached for comment about the incident. He did not respond to phone calls, and a text message sent to him had not been responded to.
Similarly, the police spokesperson in Zamfara State, Yazeed Abubakar, could not also be reached.
Amnesty condemns deadly airstrike
Amnesty International has condemned the attack, urging the Nigerian authorities to investigate it immediately and impartially.
“The Nigerian authorities must immediately and impartially investigate the Saturday evening air strike that killed at least 20 people at Tungar Kara village of Maradun LGA Zamfara state. Dozens of people injured are currently in critical condition — without access to medical care.
“The Nigerian authorities’ consistent failure to hold the military to account is encouraging impunity and increasingly endangering the lives of the civilians the military is supposed to be protecting.” Amnesty International wrote on X.
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Such attacks by the Nigerian Air Force on civilians and other non-criminal groups have claimed the lives of several people across the country.
Saturday’s incident followed the Christmas Day airstrikes that killed 10 civilians in Gidan Sama and Rumtuwa in neighbouring Silame LGA of Sokoto State.
Although the Air Force claimed those killed in the Sokoto communities were terrorists, it later vowed to probe the bombing following an outcry by families of the victims.
According to SBM Intelligence, a pan-African consulting firm, the Nigerian Air Force carried out 17 accidental air strikes between January 2017 and September 2024, killing about 500 people.
Such cases of airstrikes targeting civilians also formed parts of what the International Criminal Court (ICC) is probing Nigerian security forces for.
