By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA, May 11 (Reuters) - Nigeria's Defence Headquarters on Monday denied reports of civilian deaths from airstrikes on suspected bandits in the northern Niger state, saying the strikes were intelligence-led and hit only militant targets.
Defence spokesperson Major-General Michael Onoja said drone strikes carried out overnight between May 9 and 10 targeted the villages of Katerma, Bokko, Kusasu and Kuduru in the Shiroro district after intelligence indicated that armed gangs — known locally as bandits — were gathering to plan attacks.
The denial came in response to reports in Nigerian media alleging civilian casualties, underscoring longstanding concerns about the impact on local communities of airstrikes in Nigeria's conflict zones.
Nigerian security forces are battling banditry in the northwest and a 17-year Islamist insurgency in the northeast.
Last month, around 200 people were killed after military jets struck a village market while pursuing Islamist militants in the northeast, local residents told Reuters.
In the latest airstrikes, Onoja said at least 70 suspected bandits were killed in Kusasu alone. Post-strike intelligence showed surviving fighters regrouping, with more than 200 motorcycles moving toward nearby Zango village, he added.
"The strikes were precisely targeted at identified terrorist enclaves and achieved their intended military objectives," Onoja said, adding that residents had relocated to another village beforehand, limiting the likelihood of civilian presence.
He didn't say whether civilians were given warning of strikes.
The military has ordered field units to investigate any claims of civilian harm, Onoja said.
(Additonal reporting by Ahmed Kingimi in Maiduguri and Hamza Ibrahim in Kano; Writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo;Editing by Ros Russell)
