NAF Launches Probe into Civilian Casualties During Jilli Market Operation

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) is investigating the reported fatal civilian casualties during airstrikes while pursuing Islamist militants around Jilli Market, around the Borno-Yobe border near Fuchimiram village in the Geidam Local Government Area of Yobe State.

In a statement on Sunday, the Director of Public Relations and Information for the Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, said it “treats all reports of possible civilian harm with the utmost seriousness and empathy.”

According to eye witnesses and local government official accounts, at least 200 people are feared dead after Nigerian military jets struck the village market.

“In line with this commitment, the CAS has directed an immediate activation of the Civilian Harm Accident and Investigation Cell (CHAI-Cell) to immediately proceed to the location on a fact-finding mission on the allegation,” the statement read.

NAF maintained that it remained “firmly committed to professionalism, accountability, and transparency in the conduct of its missions.”

In an earlier statement, the Nigerian Air Force confirmed mop-up air strikes in the Jilli axis, but did not state whether any civilian casualties were recorded.

“Coming amid intensified efforts to track and neutralise terrorist elements responsible for recent attacks on security forces within the wider theatre, the follow-on strikes were aimed at fleeing remnants and regrouping cells seeking to exploit the difficult terrain,” NAF said.

However, Brigadier General Dahiru Abdulsalam, a military adviser to the Yobe state government, said, “Some people from Geidam LGA (local government area) bordering Gubio LGA in Borno state who went to the Jilli weekly market were affected.”

Several persons were feared killed and others wounded after the suspected accidental airstrikes at Jilli Market in the Geidam Local Government Area of Yobe State.

Jilli, a border community with Damasak in Borno State, is located over 200 kilometres from Damaturu, the Yobe State capital.

Lawan Zanna Nur Geidam, the councillor and traditional head of Fuchimeram ward in Yobe’s Geidam district, told Reuters that those injured were being taken to hospitals in Yobe and Borno.

“It’s a very devastating incident at Jilli Market. As I’m speaking to you, over 200 ​people have lost their lives ​from the air strike ⁠at the market,” he told Reuters.