A military airstrike on Tumfa market in Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara State has reportedly left at least 117 people dead and many others wounded, residents said, with the casualties said to include both armed bandits and civilians.
The bombardment took place on Sunday, the same day an air operation by the Nigerian Air Force struck Guradnayi, a settlement near Kusasu in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, where 13 civilians were reported killed. Details of the Tumfa strike only emerged late on Monday because communication networks in the area are poor.
Residents describe Tumfa and several neighbouring communities as effectively under the control of armed groups, who act as the dominant authority on the ground. Community leader Garba Ibrahim Mashema said the exact toll remains difficult to determine. “The actual death toll is hard to establish at the moment. Everybody — residents and bandits — go to the market. People are at the mercy of the bandits. There is nothing they can do,” he said.
Aliyu Musa, who lives about seven kilometres from Tumfa, said many of the dead were traders and food vendors, including young girls selling millet porridge and tofu, and put the number of fatalities at 117. A relative of victims who spoke on condition of anonymity said a military fighter jet conducted surveillance over the market before returning hours later to launch the attack.
Those who spoke to reporters said communities including Fakai, Mayasa and Mashema are run by armed groups, which the source said “act as judges and police.” He added that bandits move openly with weapons and that the military may have detected arms in the market during surveillance that preceded the strike.
The source also alleged bandits recently imposed a N70 million levy on a community after one of their operatives — reportedly sent to Nasarawa State to procure ammunition concealed in palm oil containers — was arrested by security forces. Relatives, he said, were forced to pay the sum.
Residents said wounded people were taken to several hospitals for treatment: Yariman Bakura Specialist Hospital in Gusau, Zurmi General Hospital and Shinkafi Hospital. One account said about 40 injured were taken to Shinkafi and another 40 to Zurmi; two ambulances and a Toyota Hilux loaded with victims were reported to have arrived from the area.
Another local described Tumfa market as a notorious enclave controlled by armed groups, claiming there is even a shop where arms and ammunition are sold. That resident defended the military operation to some extent, saying the fighter jet returned roughly 40 minutes after initial surveillance before carrying out the bombardment.
A local source said the airstrike killed an unspecified number of bandits as well as civilians. Defence Headquarters, however, denied that civilians were killed in the Zamfara market strike. Defence Headquarters spokesman Major General Michael Onoja described reports of civilian deaths in Zamfara as “not true.”
Zurmi Local Government Area has endured repeated attacks by armed groups over the years, with residents and security personnel killed and numerous kidnappings reported. Several communities in the LGA are widely believed to be under the influence or control of bandit groups. Critics point to previous incidents, including 2019 airstrikes that targeted suspected bandits’ camps in Dumburum village, when traditional rulers said civilians were affected.
Human rights groups have called for investigations. One organisation urged authorities to probe the Tumfa strike, saying more than 100 civilians were killed and reporting that one village had buried 80 people in a single mass burial. The group said the attack struck when the weekly market was full, describing chaotic scenes and calling for truth, justice and reparations for survivors and families. It added that injured people had been evacuated to general hospitals in Zurmi and Shinkafa, with the most severely hurt moved to Yariman Bakura Specialist Hospital in Gusau.
The Tumfa strike has been compared to an April aerial operation on Jilli market, on the border of Borno and Yobe states, where dozens of people — insurgents and civilians — were reported killed. The military confirmed the Jilli operation, saying it targeted a location long identified as a major movement corridor and logistics hub for fighters, and said an investigation was under way. State authorities have said the Jilli market had been closed years earlier because of its alleged use by insurgents and their suppliers.
Security experts warn that civilians living in bandit-controlled areas are increasingly caught between criminal groups and military operations. Homeland security consultant Auwal Bala Durumin Iya said many villagers have no realistic option but to remain in their communities because farming is their only livelihood and they lack resources to relocate. He argued that civilians are often forced to cooperate with armed groups under threat, and that it is the government’s responsibility to protect lives and property.
Durumin Iya also criticised what he described as inadequate handling of recurrent airstrike incidents, citing poor training and a lack of professionalism among some security personnel. He urged improved intelligence gathering, greater military professionalism and accountability to reduce civilian harm and to restore confidence among affected communities.
