Chad’s military has been accused of killing “scores” of fishermen in Nigeria while targeting jihadists, days after 40 died in a Boko Haram attack on a military base in Chad, fishermen and anti-jihadist militia told AFP on Thursday.
This followed a recent attack by jihadist group Boko Haram on the Chadian army, killing around 40 people near the Nigerian border, the government and local sources said Monday.
“A garrison housing more than 200 soldiers was targeted by members of Boko Haram” late on Sunday, a local source told AFP.
The presidency said in a statement that the attack struck near Ngouboua in the west of the country, “tragically leaving about 40 people dead”.
Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno visited the scene early on Monday and launched an operation “to go after the attackers and track them down in their furthest hideouts”, the statement added.
“Boko Haram members took control of the garrison, seized the weapons, burnt vehicles equipped with heavy arms, and left,” said one local source, who asked not to be named.
In response, the Chadian army on Wednesday launched an airstrike pummelling Tilma island in Kukawa district on the Nigerian side of Lake Chad while fishermen were tending to their catch, the sources said.
Two anti-jihadist militia assisting Nigerian soldiers in fighting the militant groups in the region told AFP that “scores” were killed in the bombardment.
“There was an attack on fishermen by a (fighter) jet belonging to the Chadian military in Tilma island which killed scores of fishermen,” Babakura Kolo, an anti-jihadist militia leader, said.
“The jet mistook the fishermen for Boko Haram terrorists who attacked a military base inside Chad on Sunday,” Kolo added.
A Chadian general staff officer who requested anonymity, told AFP that “Boko Haram fighters often blend in with the fishermen and farmers whenever they commit their crimes. It is therefore difficult to distinguish between the population and the terrorists.”
Most of the fishermen caught up in the aerial attack were from the towns of Baga, Doron-Baga and Duguri on the shores of Lake Chad, said Ibrahim Liman, another anti-jihadist militia.
“The fighter jet encircled Tilma before beginning to drop bombs while people run in all directions for cover,” said fisherman Sallau Arzika who escaped the airstrike and made it back to the garrison town of Monguno.
“A large number of fishermen were killed. No one can give an exact number because bodies are still scattered across Tilma.”
Some of the dead bodies and the injured were taken to a military base in Mile 4, near Baga, Arzika added.
Fisherman Labo Sani from Doron-Baga told AFP that two of his friends were killed in the airstrike while a third was critically injured.
“We were carrying out our fishing and it never crossed our mind that we would be attacked and killed by a fighter jet,” said Sani.