Nigerian air strike kills 12 in Niger, including at least four children

Military of Nigeria says it is investigating incident reported in neighbouring country

Nigerian soldiers at a base in Baga, on the shore of Lake Chad. AFP

At least four children were among 12 people killed in an air strike carried out by Nigerian forces on a village in neighbouring Niger on Friday, said Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

The MSF team at a hospital in the district of Madarounfa treated seven injured children after the attack.

One of them died later, MSF said, citing local sources.

“Two others died after being transferred to the regional hospital in Maradi,” the humanitarian organisation said.

A fourth child, who was 20 months old, died in the bombing, survivors said. Six adults were reportedly killed and two more died after being transferred to the hospital in Maradi.

A jet first flew over the hamlet of Nachambe, near the village of Garin Kaoura in the Madarounfa district, situated a few kilometres from the Nigerian border and inhabited by people belonging to the Peul ethnic group. It then reportedly flew over the hamlet again, dropping munitions.

Survivors said it was a Nigerian plane, pursuing armed men from a border village who had taken shelter in the village school.

“This is a horrific event, unprecedented in the Madarounfa region,” said Dr Souley Harouna, an MSF representative in Niger.

“The teams report that the injured children suffered open fractures and various wounds and post-traumatic injuries. We performed first aid before transferring them to the hospital in Maradi, but some of the injured did not survive.”

A local governor in Niger confirmed the incident but Nigerian authorities said they were “investigating”.

“As a matter of policy, the Nigerian Air Force does not make any incursions into areas outside Nigeria's territorial boundaries. That's our policy,” said Maj Genl Jimmy Akpor, Nigeria's Director of Defence Information.

Reason for air strike unclear

MSF works in the Maradi region, focusing on treating children with acute malnutrition and other childhood diseases. About 30,000 children were admitted in the four MSF-supported hospitals in the Maradi region in 2021. MSF is also providing relief to the population in the border state of Katsina, Nigeria.

The air strike occurred in a region where banditry is common and where both governments fear insurgents linked to ISIS are gaining ground.

With additional reporting by Reuters