A Nigerian Air Force fighter jet has killed nine people in Buhari community, Yunusari Local Government Area of Yobe State, residents say.
Several other villagers sustained injuries and are now receiving medical attention at a government health facility in Geidam.
This is even as the Nigerian Air Force denies any link of its fighter jets to the bombing.
According to a resident of Damaturu, Saleh Ibrahim, the jet shelled the village in the early hours of Wednesday when the villagers were preparing to go to the weekly market in Geidam, a neighbouring local government, 200 km from Damaturu.
“The villagers were already set to go to the market at Geidam early in the morning when, suddenly, the jet appeared from nowhere and started shelling the village.
“Instantly, three people died. The sound of gunshots scared the villagers and they ran for safety, but others sustained injuries as a result.
“Some of the injured were attempting to tend to the dead people when they also got hit by bullets from the jet.
“As of 5 pm on Wednesday, the number of dead people had risen to nine, while over 30 people sustained injuries and are receiving treatment at Geidam General Hospital,” Ibrahim disclosed.
He added, “Buhari village is in Yunusari local government, but Buhari village is closer to Geidam and the entire Yunusari local government doesn’t have facilities to attend to the injured victims.”
According to the source, Yunusari local government has a strong presence of Boko Haram terrorists and has Boko Haram camps from where the insurgents often launch attacks against neighbouring Geidam local government and make a retreat back to Yunusari.
He said both Yunusari and Geidam share border with Niger Republic.
The acting spokesman of the Nigerian Army, Sector 2 Operation Hadin Kai in Damaturu, Lt. Kennedy Anyanwu, said that they were “yet to receive any situation report about the incident.”
The Nigerian Air Force has also denied reports linking one of its fighter jets to the bombing.
In a statement on Wednesday, the NAF spokesman, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, explained that the agency last conducted a mission in Yobe State earlier in the month.
“NAF last conducted a mission into Yobe State (not Yunusari LGA) on 5 September 2021 and it was an armed Recce. No bomb or missile was even expended,” he said.
