Nigeria investigates deadly market attack

TT

Published 21.38

          

         Injured civilians receive treatment at a hospital in the state capital Damaturu after the weekend                   airstrike. Photo: Micheal Abu/AP/TT

The Nigerian government will investigate the Nigerian military's airstrike this weekend on a bustling marketplace that killed at least 56 people, many of them civilians.

The investigation is described in a statement as "full and independent". The aim is to review "intelligence, objectives and execution".

"We will address any shortcomings and ensure accountability," said the country's Information Minister Mohammed Idris in the statement.

According to Amnesty International, around 100 people may have been killed in the airstrike in Yobe state in Nigeria's violence-ridden northeast.

The target of the attack was reportedly a “logistics center” belonging to the jihadist group Iswap in the area, according to a previous statement from the military. But something seems to have gone wrong in the planning, leading to the deaths of many civilians.