Residents of the Nigerian village of Daban Masara claim dozens of civilians were killed in a Nigerian Air Force strike Sunday.
Some villagers said the strike deliberately targeted a civilian area because the Nigerian government had ordered the local fishing industry to shut down, on the grounds that Islamic State terrorists were profiting from the fishing trade.
Eyewitness told Reuters on Wednesday that two warplanes dropped bombs on the fish market in Daban Masara, killing up to 60 people and wounding many more. The United Nations issued a security report confirming the strike occurred, but tallying only one fatality and six injuries.
“At least 50 people were killed instantly… including my friend who got married just three weeks ago,” claimed one villager.
“They are innocent people like us that depend on fishing to sustain their living. Their mistake is that they were fishing in an area restricted by security forces,” said another.
AFP quoted a local fisherman who said about 20 of his colleagues were killed in the strike.
Daban Masara is located in the Lake Chad region, a stronghold of Islamic State jihadis. The local franchise of ISIS is often referred to as Islamic State West Africa Province, or ISWAP.
Lake Chad hosts so many jihadis that factional battles between them are a major source of civilian collateral damage. ISWAP became the dominant faction when Boko Haram declined after its leader Abubakar Shekau was killed in May, reportedly during a clash with ISWAP fighters.
Boko Haram made a comeback on Monday by attacking ISWAP positions on the Nigerian shores of Lake Chad, using speedboats to invade Kirta Wulgo island. Nigerian security sources told AFP there were at least 100 casualties in the battle, which ended with Boko Haram in control of the island.
A Nigerian intelligence source told AFP that ISWAP banned fishermen from its territory for some time, but recently lifted the ban and imposed a tax on fishermen. The Nigerian military responded by imposing its own ban on fishing, fearing ISWAP would use the revenue from these taxes to recruit more manpower and buy more weapons.
“Any fisherman that goes to that area does so at his own risk because it is an enemy territory and there is no way of differentiating them from the terrorists,” AFP’s source warned.
The intelligence officer added that aerial surveillance and other information streams suggested militants were massing in Daban Masara and were planning an attack, so an airstrike was ordered against them.
“It was a preemptive strike to destroy whatever plans the terrorists were making. You don’t expect an innocent civilian to be at that location and whoever is found is certainly part of the terrorists,” another Nigerian intelligence officer said.
At least nine civilians from another village were reportedly killed in an airstrike on September 16, which was also justified as targeting a group of militants in the area.