Nigeria military denies civilian deaths in Niger airstrikes, blames bandits

Military spokesperson Major-General Michael Onoja said the drone strikes, carried out between May 9 and May 10, hit villages identified as Katerma, Bokko, Kusasu and Kuduru after intelligence suggested armed gangs were gathering to plan attacks. He said at least 70 suspected bandits were killed in Kusasu alone and argued that residents had already relocated, reducing the chance that civilians were present when the strike hit identified terrorist enclaves.

That account has been challenged by residents in Guradnayi, a settlement near Kusasu, who said the early Sunday strike may have hit civilian homes, destroyed houses and spread panic through the area. One report from the community said at least 12 people may have died in a single residence, though that figure has not been independently verified. The military did not say whether warnings were issued before the attack, and it ordered field units to investigate any claims of civilian harm.

The verification gap is central. In places like Shiroro, where bandit camps, vigilantes and villages overlap, it is often difficult for outsiders to separate a legitimate counterinsurgency strike from a tragedy that hits the wrong compound. Shiroro Local Government Area covers about 5,015 square kilometres and had a population of 235,404 in the 2006 census, but its security footprint is far larger than those numbers suggest. Recent reporting has described bandits moving through communities in large groups, driving civilians from places such as Kuchi, Chibani and Zagzaga.