Nigeria Pushes Back on Claims of Deadly Market Airstrike

Nigeria pushed back against reports that an Air Force strike killed civilians at a crowded market in the country’s northeast, saying the operation targeted and eliminated jihadi militants.

“The narrative that civilians were killed in a military bomb campaign against terrorists at Jilli market, a border town between Borno and Yobe States, is inaccurate,” Temitope Ajayi, a presidential spokesman, said in a text message on Monday in response to questions. “The market was a legitimate military target because it has been turned to a logistics and trading hub by Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists,” he said.