Nigeria Airstrike Hits Zamfara Market, Amnesty Says 100 Civilians Killed

Amnesty International said a Nigerian military airstrike hit Tumfa market in Zurmi district of Zamfara state and killed at least 100 civilians, setting off a fresh confrontation over what happened in one of northwest Nigeria’s most violent conflict zones. The military confirmed it carried out the bombing, but said there was no verifiable evidence of civilian casualties.

A Red Cross official in Zamfara, Ibrahim Bello Garba, confirmed the strike and said multiple civilians were killed. Amnesty said witnesses reported that military jets circled above the market around noon on Sunday, May 10, 2026, then returned and bombed the area about 2 p.m., while trading was under way. The group called for an immediate investigation and said the attack reflected a pattern of reckless attacks on civilians.

Local reports said dozens of bodies were recovered after the strike, with some victims dying on the way to hospitals. One community leader said 80 people were buried in a single village. Those accounts deepened the gulf between civilian testimony and the military’s denial, leaving the public with a familiar and unresolved question: how many people died, and who will be held responsible.

The attack has sharpened scrutiny of Nigeria’s long campaign against armed groups in the northwest, where Zamfara has been battered for years by bandit gangs that kill, kidnap and raid rural communities. Air operations in the region have repeatedly drawn allegations of civilian deaths. In April 2024, an airstrike in Zamfara killed at least 33 villagers during Eid preparations. In June 2025, another strike killed at least 20 people, while the military said it had destroyed 21 motorcycles used by the targeted group.

The latest strike also revives memories of the December 2023 drone attack in Kaduna state, when at least 85 people were killed and Bola Tinubu ordered an investigation. Rights groups and local residents have repeatedly demanded independent inquiries into such incidents, arguing that official military accounts often fail to explain how civilian deaths occur in crowded markets, villages and prayer grounds.

For families in Zamfara, the dispute over numbers is not an abstraction. It is the difference between a battlefield claim and a mass funeral, and it underscores the accountability gap that has shadowed Nigeria’s counterinsurgency campaign for years.