Civilians killed in another military airstrike on Niger village

An as-yet unascertained number of civilians have been reported killed in another aerial assault on Guradnayi, a settlement near Kusasu, one of the terrorised villages in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.

This adds to other cases of [unresolved] accidental military airstrikes on many rural communities in Nigeria’s conflict zones.

Multiple sources told our reporter that the incident happened in the early hours of Sunday. Pictures of the incident shared with this newspaper are too gory to be published.

“It happened around 5 a.m.,” Auta Awododo, a resident of Kusasu, said, adding no fewer than 12 people were killed in his relative’s residence in Guradnayi.

Mr Awododo said one of those was his cousin’s son.

“Twelve people were killed in his house,” he said. “The rest were Kusasu people who were fleeing from the terrorists.”

Locals told this newspaper that a horde of terrorists riding on motorcycles passed through the village as aerial forces were chasing them.

“The military first threw a bomb near the river in Kusasu,” one resident said. “The second bomb was dropped at Guradnayi.”

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has not issued an official statement about the incident. An enquiry sent to its spokesperson, Ehimen Ejodame, had not been responded to.

“What is more painful is that this is not the first time such an incident has happened,” a local politician who wished not to be named said, lamenting the repeated loss of innocent lives in the area.

Many locals have been killed in accidental airstrikes across communities in Shiroro. In 2022, a NAF fighter jet killed six minors in Kurebe village, according to a PREMIUM TIMES investigation. Five months later, another military airstrike killed eight civilians in the same village.

None of this case was resolved. The Air Force disputed the killings of the minors, corroborating the state government.

Terrorists might have been killed in the airstrikes, but innocent civilians were killed too, Mr Awododo said.

“Even though terrorists were killed in the assault, the operation didn’t deter them from their intent,” said a security source monitoring violence across Niger State.

The source, a member of a local vigilante, corroborated the locals’ account, saying terrorists passed through Kusasu in Shiroro and crossed into neighbouring Munya local council.

“As I speak to you now, they (terrorists) are operating in Kabula near Kuchi,” he said. “There’s no confirmed report of abduction or killings yet, but they have rustled many cattle from many communities in Munya.”