Nigeria has launched a full, independent investigation into a military airstrike on a market in the country’s northeast that left at least 200 people feared dead, while insisting the operation targeted Islamist militants in an insurgent-held enclave.
The strike, carried out on Saturday in Jilli village in Borno State’s Gubio district, is the latest incident to cause mass civilian casualties in a conflict zone where militants and civilians often occupy overlapping spaces.
Rights groups have long warned that airstrikes on markets and supply hubs in contested مناطق carry a high risk of civilian deaths, as residents frequently enter such areas out of necessity despite militant control.
Information Minister Mohammed Idris expressed regret over the reported civilian casualties but defended the operation as a targeted, intelligence-led strike against militant infrastructure.
“The Federal Government reiterates that this was a deliberate, intelligence-led operation, not an indiscriminate attack,” Idris said in a statement issued late Tuesday, describing Jilli as one of the most active insurgent corridors in the northeast.
Authorities say Jilli, known locally as the “terrorists’ market,” along with the nearby Gazabure market, had been officially shut down about five years ago after falling under militant control. Intelligence assessments indicate the area has since been used by Boko Haram and its Islamic State-linked offshoot, ISWAP, to collect levies, procure supplies, and coordinate attacks.
Officials linked the site to recent assaults, including attacks on April 9 in Ngamdu and Benisheikh that killed a senior military officer.
The government said the probe will examine both the planning and execution of the airstrike, as scrutiny mounts over repeated incidents involving civilian harm.
Nigeria’s northeast has been gripped by a 17-year insurgency by Islamist militant groups seeking to establish an Islamic state. The conflict has killed thousands and displaced more than two million people, according to humanitarian agencies, despite years of military operations aimed at restoring control.