Nigerian military airstrike kills 100 civilians at a market, rights group claims

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria ‘s military Tuesday denied a rights group’s claim that an airstrike killed 100 civilians in a market over the weekend, as attention turned again to a long-running fight against armed groups in the country’s volatile north.

Amnesty International in a statement Monday said a military airstrike on Sunday hit a market in Tumfa in Zamfara state. A Red Cross official in the state, Ibrahim Bello Garba, confirmed the strike to The Associated Press and said “multiple civilians” were killed.

“In one village alone, 80 people were buried and there is no evidence that any of those people killed is a bandit. They are all civilians. The majority of them are young girls and small boys,” Amnesty International Nigeria director Isa Sanusi told the AP.

Nigeria’s military confirmed an airstrike to the AP but said “no verifiable evidence of civilian casualties as being suggested in the media has been established.”