A Nigerian air force strike targeting jihadist rebels hit a market in north-east Nigeria, killing more than 100 people and injuring many others, Amnesty International and local media have said.
Officials confirmed a misfire had occurred but did not provide details.
Amnesty International said it confirmed from survivors that at least 100 people had been killed in the airstrike on a village in Yobe state near the border with Borno state, the centre of the jihadist insurgency that has ravaged the region for more than a decade.
The Nigerian military often conducts air raids to battle armed groups who use vast forest enclaves, and have killed at least 500 civilians since 2017, according to an Associated Press tally of reported deaths.
Security analysts have pointed to loopholes in intelligence gathering, as well as insufficient coordination between ground troops, air assets and stakeholders.
The Yobe state government confirmed in a statement that a Nigerian military strike had targeted a stronghold of the Boko Haram jihadist group in the area and that “some people … who went to the Jilli weekly market were affected.”
Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International’s Nigeria director, said: “We are in touch with people that are there; we spoke with the hospital. We spoke with the person in charge of casualties and we spoke with the victims.”
The Nigerian air force did not immediately respond to inquiries.
