Nigerian airstrike kills at least 100 civilians in Zamfara market

A Nigerian military airstrike tore through Tumfa market in Zurmi district, Zamfara state, on Sunday, killing at least 100 civilians and wounding dozens more in one of the deadliest attacks yet on a civilian market in the country’s northwest. Amnesty International said many of the dead were women and girls, deepening the toll on families already living under constant insecurity.

Injured people were taken to hospitals in Zurmi and nearby Shinkafi as the scale of the blast became clear. Witnesses said military jets hovered over the area around midday, then returned about two hours later before bombing the busy market, where traders and buyers had gathered in a remote part of the state.

A Red Cross official in Zamfara, Ibrahim Bello Garba, told the Associated Press that multiple civilians were killed. The Nigerian military did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It has previously denied targeting civilians and said its airstrikes are intelligence-led and aimed only at militant positions.

The strike landed under intense scrutiny because it was the second mass-casualty attack on a crowded northern market in about a month. In April, an airstrike at Jilli market in northeastern Nigeria killed around 200 civilians and prompted a probe. The latest deaths are likely to intensify pressure on the government and the armed forces to explain how civilian gatherings keep being hit despite repeated assurances that operations are aimed at armed groups.

The pattern in Zamfara is especially stark. Amnesty said in May 2025 that 638 villages had been sacked by bandits in the state, warning of a looming humanitarian crisis as armed attacks spread and state protection remained thin. The state has also seen earlier military mistakes with devastating consequences. Amnesty said a December 2022 Nigerian air force strike in Mutumji village killed 64 people, while another strike on Dec. 3, 2023 in Tudun Biri killed more than 120. After both incidents, Nigerian authorities took responsibility and issued public apologies.

Repeated airstrikes on market days carry a heavy strategic cost. When force meant for militant targets kills civilians instead, it deepens mistrust, feeds resentment and makes counterinsurgency harder in places where markets are among the few chances to buy food, trade goods and exchange information. In Zamfara, where insecurity has already emptied villages and strained hospitals, the latest killings have pushed the question of civilian protection from theory to an urgent test of accountability.