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Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has denied reports of civilian casualties following an air-land operation conducted by troops of the Joint Task Force (North West), Operation FANSAN YAMMA, in Zamfara State.
According to the DHQ, the operation, which was carried out on May 10, 2026, by Nigerian troops, reportedly targeted a gathering of terrorist leaders at Tumfa Village in Shinkafi Local Government Area (LGA) of Zamfara State.
The Director of Defence Media Operations, Michael Onoja, in a statement issued on Thursday, said the strike was based on credible intelligence gathered from multiple sources.
DISCLAIMER ON REPORTS OF CIVILIAN CASUALTIES AND UNVERIFIED CASUALTY FIGURES IN ZAMFARA OPERATION
The Defence Headquarters wishes to address with utmost clarity the wave of misleading reports and unverified figures currently circulating across various media platforms regarding… pic.twitter.com/rgfq7hU2go
— DEFENCE HQ NIGERIA (@DHQNigeria) May 14, 2026
“The operation was an air interdiction strike, the nature of which does not permit an immediate and precise ground-level enumeration of casualties,” said Onoja.
“Accordingly, the varying figures presently in circulation, including those attributed to international and local media outlets, are speculative, unverified, and do not represent the official position of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. The official position remains that several terrorists were neutralised, as confirmed by a Battle Damage Assessment conducted after the strike.”
The DHQ added that a post-operation assessment indicated that several terrorists were neutralised.
“The official position remains that several terrorists were neutralised, as confirmed by a Battle Damage Assessment conducted after the strike.”
It added that no credible evidence of civilian casualties has been established. Onoja emphasised that the targeted location was a confirmed terrorist structure, occupied exclusively by “armed non-state actors who pose a direct and active threat to civilian lives”.
Following the airstrike, the United Nations (UN) urged Nigeria and Chad to launch a probe into the military airstrikes that allegedly killed civilians in the northern region of Nigeria.
“I am shocked by reports that Nigerian army airstrikes on a market in Zamfara state killed at least 100 civilians on 10 May and injured many more,” UN human rights chief Volker Türk said in a statement on Wednesday.
