Nigeria’s national human rights body on Thursday urged the military to carry out a “thorough and prompt” investigation into repeated civilian casualties linked to military airstrikes across the country.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), a state institution responsible for investigating alleged rights violations, said growing reports of civilian deaths and injuries raised serious concerns over compliance with humanitarian and human rights laws.
The call follows allegations by Amnesty International that at least 100 civilians were killed in a Nigerian military airstrike on a crowded market in Zamfara state last weekend. Amnesty, citing witness accounts, described the incident as the third reported case of deadly civilian airstrike casualties since April.
Nigeria’s military has denied reports of civilian deaths, saying there was no evidence supporting the claims.
The Nigerian government has increasingly relied on air power in security operations against armed groups operating in different parts of the country, including a long-running insurgency in the northeast and armed kidnapping gangs and Islamist militants in the northwest.
The NHRC stressed that while combating insurgency and banditry remained a legitimate responsibility of the state, military operations must adhere to constitutional protections and international humanitarian standards.
“Nigerians deserve to know why this has become a recurring decimal. For how long will this continue?” NHRC Executive Secretary Tony Ojukwu said in a statement.
In a separate statement issued Wednesday, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said he was shocked by reports of civilian deaths in Zamfara and called on Nigerian authorities to conduct a “thorough, independent and impartial” investigation.
The latest allegations come weeks after another deadly airstrike in April reportedly killed around 200 civilians at a weekly market in Jilli, northeastern Nigeria. The military previously announced an investigation into that incident.
Under Nigerian law, the NHRC has the authority to investigate alleged abuses and refer cases to the attorney general for possible prosecution.