What was meant to be a targeted military operation in northeastern Nigeria ended in mass civilian casualties after an airstrike struck a busy market, leaving scores dead and many more wounded.

Reports from rights organizations and local media say the Nigerian Air Force operation, aimed at suspected jihadi fighters, hit a village market in Yobe State on Saturday. The area lies close to Borno State, long regarded as the heart of a grinding insurgency. Officials have since acknowledged the strike went off course, though they have not provided specifics.

According to Amnesty International, accounts from survivors indicate that the death toll has surpassed 100, with children among those killed.

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“We have their pictures and they include children,” Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International’s Nigeria director, told The Associated Press, referring to the casualties.

“We are in touch with people that are there, we spoke with the hospital,” he said. “We spoke with the person in charge of casualties, and we spoke with the victims.”

Medical staff at Geidam General Hospital in Yobe say the facility is treating at least 23 people injured in the blast. The source spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking publicly.

Incidents like this are not isolated. Air operations have repeatedly gone wrong in Nigeria’s conflict zones, where troops rely on aerial strikes to target armed groups entrenched in remote forest areas. Since 2017, such errors have led to the deaths of at least 500 civilians, based on an Associated Press compilation. Analysts often attribute the pattern to weak intelligence coordination and gaps between air and ground operations.

The market itself, located near the Borno-Yobe boundary, is known as a supply point where fighters linked to Boko Haram sometimes obtain food.

Abdulmumin Bulama, part of a civilian joint task force supporting the military, said intelligence had suggested militants were gathering near the market ahead of a planned assault.

“The intel was shared and the Air Force jet acted based on the credible information,” Bulama said.

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In a statement, the Yobe State Government said the strike had been aimed at a Boko Haram stronghold but acknowledged that “some people … who went to the Jilli weekly market were affected.”

The state’s emergency management agency confirmed casualties among traders and said response teams had been deployed.

Meanwhile, the military maintained that it successfully hit a “terrorist enclave and logistics hub,” claiming many fighters were killed as they moved on motorcycles. It did not directly address reports of civilian deaths, but stressed that motorcycles are banned in high-risk areas and any such movement is treated as a threat.

Amnesty International has called for an independent probe, arguing that the military is “fond of” labeling civilian casualties as bandits.

The incident adds to the complexity of Nigeria’s security crisis. The country continues to grapple with a long-running insurgency in the north, widespread kidnappings, and the presence of multiple armed factions. Aside from Boko Haram, the region is also dealing with Islamic State West Africa Province, as well as other IS-linked groups operating near the border with Niger.

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