A military airstrike in Nigeria’s northwestern Zamfara state killed at least 20 people over the weekend, according to residents and Amnesty International, which called on authorities to investigate the incident.
The Nigerian Army and Air Force could not immediately be reached for comment.
The airstrike occurred on Sunday in Maraya and Wabi villages in Zamfara, an area plagued by attacks from armed groups known locally as bandits, residents said. They said the Nigerian Air Force carried out the strike after villagers requested help following a bandit attack.
“The military aircraft arrived and started firing, killing at least 20 of our people,” said Abdullahi Ali, a resident and member of a local militia group of hunters, in a phone interview.
An unknown number of others were injured, residents said.
Nigeria’s military has previously admitted to accidentally targeting civilians while pursuing armed gangs in the region and has promised to investigate such incidents. In January, an airstrike killed 16 people in Tungar Kara, also in Zamfara state.
Auwal Idris, another resident, said a military jet dropped a bomb near where community guards were fighting bandits, killing 20 of the guards.
Amnesty International called the latest incident part of a pattern of reckless military airstrikes and urged an immediate investigation.
“Attacks by bandits clearly warrant a response from the state, but to launch reckless airstrikes into villages — again and again — is absolutely unlawful,” Amnesty said in a statement.