Another military airstrike kills 20 civilians, vigilantes in defence minister’s hometown
A mistargeted airstrike by the Nigerian Air Force has killed about people said to be residents of various communities who came in solidarity to support an attacked Tungar Kara community in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
Penpushing reports that the killing occurred at the hometown of the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle on Saturday night, January, 11, 2025 where both the Air Force and the victims of the airstrike were reportedly repelling an attack by terrorists
The sources disclosed that local vigilantes killed were members of the Zamfara Community Protection Guard, adding that they 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.
Penpushing further reports that a resident, Salisu Maradun, while narrating the unfortunate incident said the attack left at least 20 people killed, with several yet to be accounted for as at the time of filing this report.
The Air Force spokesperson, Olusola Akinboyewa, could not be immediately reached for comment about the incident, and in same vein, Zamfara State Police Command Public Relations Officer Yazeed Abubakar, was yet to issue any official statement on the development.
Penpushing also reports that Amnesty International has, however, condemned the attack, urging the Nigerian authorities to investigate it immediately and impartially, stressing that dozens of people injured are in critical condition without access to medications
“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.
Penpushing reports that record shows that such attacks by the Nigerian Air Force on civilians and other non-criminal groups have claimed the lives of several people across the country, and the Saturday’s incident followed the Christmas Day airstrikes that killed 10 civilians in Gidan Sama and Rumtuwa in neighbouring Silame local government of Sokoto State.
The Air Force, however, claimed those killed in the Sokoto communities were terrorists, and later vowed to probe the bombing following an outcry by families of the victim, while a Pan-African consulting firm, SBM Intelligence, said the Nigerian Air Force carried out 17 accidental air strikes between January 2017 and September 2024, killing about 500 people.
Penpushing further reports that such cases of airstrikes targeting civilians equally formed parts of what the International Criminal Court (ICC) is probing Nigerian security forces for.
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