The United Nations human rights chief, Volker Türk, has demanded independent investigations into reports that separate air attacks by the Nigerian and Chadian forces in northern Nigeria killed more than 100 civilians.
“I am shocked by reports that Nigerian army airstrikes on a market in Zamfara state killed at least 100 civilians on 10 May and injured many more,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement on Wednesday.
He said he was also “alarmed and saddened” by the reports of high civilian casualties in attacks since Friday by Chadian jets against Boko Haram camps on remote islands in the vast marshland shared by Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, and Chad.
Nigeria’s military ‌has been battling “bandits” in the northwest, often describing them as “terrorists”. It has also been battling ‌an ‌armed rebellion in the northeast for 17 years.
The Nigerian military and the “bandit” gangs killed at least 100 civilians on Sunday in one of the bloodiest days in the state’s conflict against armed groups, according to Amnesty International.
Citing witnesses, Amnesty said many of those killed were women and children, and urged authorities to immediately investigate the attack on a crowded market in Tumfa village.
The bombardment has reportedly killed dozens of Nigerian fishermen working on islands under Boko Haram control, where civilians are forced to pay taxes to the armed group. Footage verified by the AFP news agency showed several fishermen with severe burns being treated at a hospital in Bosso, Niger.