Nigerian air strike killed 33 villagers during Eid last week, witnesses say

The Boko Haram and splinter Islamic West Africa Province have waged an insurgency in Nigeria's northeast for more than a decade and continue to carry out sporadic attacks against civilians and the military. File photo.
The Boko Haram and splinter Islamic West Africa Province have waged an insurgency in Nigeria's northeast for more than a decade and continue to carry out sporadic attacks against civilians and the military. File photo.
Image: REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

At least 33 people were killed in an air strike on a village in Nigeria's northwestern Zamfara state last week, four residents and a traditional leader said, after a military operation targeting armed kidnapping gangs and their hideouts.

The incident, on April 10, is the latest in a pattern of deadly aerial assaults by the military that have killed civilians.

The military said on Thursday the air strikes had eliminated armed gangs, known locally as bandits, in several Zamfara locations.


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