Chad's army accused of killing 'scores' of fishermen in Nigeria: Local sources

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The Chadian military is accused of killing “dozens” of fishermen in Nigeria while attacking jihadists, days after a Boko Haram attack on a military base in Chad left 40 people dead, fishermen and anti-jihadists said militias told AFP on Thursday.

The Chadian army launched an airstrike on Tilma island in Kukawa district on the Nigerian side of Lake Chad on Wednesday as fishermen tended to their catch, the sources said.

Two anti-jihadist militias supporting Nigerian soldiers fighting the militant groups in the region told AFP that “several” people were killed in the bombardment.

“There was an attack on fishermen by a Chadian military (fighter) jet on the island of Tilma, in which many fishermen were killed,” said Babakura Kolo, an anti-jihadist militia leader.

“The jet mistook the fishermen for Boko Haram terrorists who attacked a military base in Chad on Sunday,” Kolo added.

Requesting anonymity, a Chadian general staff officer told AFP: “Boko Haram fighters often mingle with fishermen and farmers when they commit their crimes. Therefore, it is difficult to distinguish between the population and the terrorists.”

Boko Haram's Sunday attack on a base in the Lake Chad region not only killed around 40 people, but dozens were also injured. In a propaganda video released on Monday, the group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby, who visited the military base after the jihadist attack, vowed to “pursue and track down the attackers to their last entrenchment,” according to a statement from the Chadian military.

Most of the fishermen caught in the airstrike 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 circled Tilma before it started dropping bombs as people ran in all directions to seek shelter,” said fisherman Sallau Arzika.

Arzika 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 as the bodies are still scattered throughout Tilma.”

Some of the bodies and injured were taken to a military base in Mile 4 near Baga, Arzika added.

Doron-Baga fisherman Labo Sani told AFP that two of his friends were killed in the airstrike and a third was critically injured.

“We were fishing and it never occurred to us that we would be attacked and killed by a fighter jet,” Sani said.

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