NIGERIA : An airstrike carried out by the Nigerian air force has left as many as 200 people feared dead, according to local reports, in what authorities are now scrambling to clarify amid conflicting accounts of the target.
The incident took place in a village in the northeastern state of Yobe, near the border with Borno state — the epicenter of a long-running Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands and displaced millions. The village lies in the broader Maiduguri region, a flashpoint for attacks by Boko Haram militants.
The Nigerian air force said it had successfully killed Boko Haram fighters in neighboring Borno state as part of ongoing counterinsurgency operations.
However, the government of Yobe state later issued a statement offering a different account, saying the airstrike was actually carried out near a market. Officials and residents now fear that the majority of the roughly 200 dead were civilians, not militants.
“We are receiving distressing reports from the border community,” a Yobe state spokesperson said. “Initial assessments suggest a significant number of non-combatants may have been caught in the blast.”
Neither the military nor the state government has released an official death toll, but local humanitarian sources say the figure of 200 fatalities is being cited by multiple community leaders.
The incident underscores the persistent danger of aerial bombardments in densely populated areas where militant groups often operate alongside civilian populations. Borno state has been the hardest hit by the 14-year insurgency, but violence has frequently spilled into neighboring Yobe.
The Nigerian air force has not yet responded to the Yobe government’s statement. Calls for an independent investigation are growing as families in the affected village begin burying their dead.
