Nigeria army airstrike kills 20 people, Amnesty and residents says

At least 20 people were killed in a military airstrike in Nigeria's northwestern Zamfara state over the weekend, residents and Amnesty International said on Monday, with the rights group calling for authorities to investigate the incident.

The Nigerian Army and Nigerian Air Force could not immediately be reached for comment. Residents said the airstrike occurred on Sunday in Maraya and Wabi villages in Zamfara state, one of the epicentres of attacks by armed groups, commonly called bandits, that maraud Nigeria's northwest region.

The military operation was carried out by the Nigerian Air Force at the request of villagers who had suffered a bandit attack at the weekend, the residents said. An unknown number of people were wounded, they said. "The military aircraft arrived and started firing, killing at least 20 of our people," Abdullahi Ali, a Mani resident and member of a militia group of hunters, told Reuters by phone.

Nigeria's military has in the past admitted to mistakenly targeting civilians while pursuing armed gangs in northwest Nigeria, where there is widespread insecurity, and has promised to investigate such cases. In January, a military airstrike killed 16 people in Tungar Kara, another town in Zamfara.

Auwal Idris, another resident, said a jet dropped a bomb close to where community guards were fighting bandits, killing 20 of the guards. Amnesty said the latest incident should be investigated.

"Attacks by bandits clearly warrant a response from the state, but to launch reckless airstrikes into villages — again and again — is absolutely unlawful," Amnesty said in a statement.

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