Over 50 Civilians Dead After NAF Airstrike Hits Market on Borno-Yobe Border

What happened at Jilli Market

More than 50 people, mostly traders, are feared dead after a Nigerian Air Force airstrike hit a weekly market at Jilli village on the Borno-Yobe border on Saturday afternoon. The strike was reportedly targeting Boko Haram insurgents who had come to the market to collect levies from traders. The bombs hit civilians instead.

One eyewitness said he counted 56 corpses at the scene and helped rush two injured people to the hospital. “I believe the number of casualties may be higher, as more bodies are still being recovered,” he told Daily Trust. Malam Lawan Zanna, the councillor of Fichimaram Ward, confirmed over 30 people had been killed, with more than 20 hospitalized at the Specialist Hospital in Geidam. Two of the injured were transferred to the Teaching Hospital in Damaturu. Nine of those receiving treatment later died, pushing the confirmed toll past 30.

Four fighter jets, one crowded market

The attack started around 2:46 p.m., right in the middle of trading hours. Four fighter jets carried out the operation, though witnesses said the fourth jet was not clearly visible. People ran when the first strikes landed. The bombing continued.

Jilli Market draws traders from Gubio, Chiweram, and Benisheikh in Borno, and Gurokayeya and Geidam in Yobe State. It is where people from these communities buy and sell every week. That is who was there when the bombs fell.

Brigadier General Abdulsalam Dahiru (rtd), the Special Adviser to the Yobe State Governor on Security Matters, confirmed the incident but was quick to note that Jilli falls within Gubio LGA of Borno State, not Yobe. That effectively passes the buck to Borno authorities.

The Air Force has said nothing

As of press time, the Nigerian Air Force had not issued a statement on civilian casualties. The NAF told Reuters it carried out operations in the Jilli axis targeting Boko Haram, but made no mention of a market or civilian deaths. The Yobe State Emergency Management Agency confirmed deaths at Jilli Market but declined to give a number.

This has happened before. The 2017 Rann bombing, where a NAF jet hit an IDP camp killing over 100 people, followed the same script: silence, then grudging acknowledgment, then promises of investigation. Nigerians are still waiting for the findings of most of those investigations.

The people of Jilli are owed an explanation. Was the intelligence verified? Was there any effort to distinguish between insurgents and the hundreds of civilians who trade at that market every week? The death toll is still climbing. The silence from the Air Force is getting louder.

Sources: Daily Trust, Punch, BBC Pidgin, Reuters, Al Jazeera