Amnesty International has advised Nigerian authorities to investigate the horrific military airstrike that allegedly killed about 100 civilians on Sunday, at the Tumfa market in Zurmi local government area of Zamfara state.
According to Amnesty International, more dead bodies are still being recovered while others died on the way to hospitals.
“Around 12:00 mid-day people at the weekly market saw military jets hovering. By 2:00pm the military jets returned and bombarded the market.
“Dozens of injured people are currently receiving treatment at the general hospitals of Zurmi and Shinkafi. Eyewitnesses said many of those killed are women and girls,” Amnesty International posted on its X handle on Monday.
While stating that launching air raids is not a legitimate law enforcement method by anyone’s standard, Amnesty International noted that such reckless use of deadly force is unlawful, outrageous and lays bare the Nigerian military’s disregard for civilian lives.
Although the Military authorities are yet to respond to the current allegations, they have dismissed reports alleging civilian casualties during recent aerial interdiction operations in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) in a statement on Sunday by the Director of Defense Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Michael Onoja, insisted that the strikes were precisely targeted at armed bandit enclaves based on credible intelligence.
