MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — A Nigerian military airstrike hit the weekly Jilli market along the Borno-Yobe border in northeast Nigeria on Saturday, with residents, aid workers and rights monitors reporting that more than 100 civilians were killed and many others wounded. The strike came as aircraft targeted suspected Boko Haram fighters in the area, and authorities later acknowledged civilian casualties after conflicting accounts put the toll at anywhere from at least 100 to more than 200, April 11.
Jilli market airstrike: what we know so far
In the earliest detailed local account, Reuters reported that councillor and traditional head Lawan Zanna Nur Geidam said more than 200 people were feared dead and described the bombing as “a very devastating incident.” The same report said the Nigerian Air Force had activated its Civilian Harm Accident and Investigation Cell for a fact-finding mission.
A more conservative verified toll came from The Associated Press, which cited Amnesty International’s Nigeria office as saying at least 100 deaths, including children, had been confirmed after contact with survivors, hospital staff and local officials. AP also reported that at least 23 injured people were being treated at Geidam General Hospital and that its tally of reported civilian deaths from similar military misfires since 2017 exceeds 500.
Al Jazeera reported that Amnesty called for an immediate and impartial investigation and said local officials placed total casualties, dead and injured, at about 200. The same report said the military’s initial statement described the operation as a successful strike on Boko Haram fighters in the Jilli axis without mentioning a market.
Locally, Punch reported that the Yobe State Emergency Management Agency had activated emergency response measures and sent assessment teams toward the scene, while urging the public not to circulate unverified casualty figures before officials finish compiling a formal count.
Why the Jilli market airstrike matters
The immediate questions are not only how many people were killed, but how intelligence was vetted before the strike and whether the promised inquiry will produce a public accounting. Those questions matter because the latest bombing appears to fit a longer record of mistaken or disputed air operations in Nigeria.
That history stretches back years. A 2017 Reuters report on the Rann refugee camp strike said at least 70 civilians were killed after an attack the air force said had been aimed at Boko Haram fighters.
The pattern remained visible in later cases. Reuters reported in December 2023 that President Bola Tinubu ordered an investigation after a military drone attack in Tudun Biri, Kaduna state, killed at least 85 villagers, including women and children.
A broader Reuters special report published in June 2023 documented repeated aerial assaults that killed civilians outside the northeast war zone, arguing that poor targeting and weak accountability were already eroding public trust in the military.
Until Nigerian authorities release a verified casualty list and the findings of the current inquiry, the Jilli market airstrike is likely to intensify scrutiny of how counterinsurgency air power is used in civilian-populated areas.
