The death toll from the strike varies depending on the source. A UN security report said 56, Amnesty International said more than 100, while a local leader said there were "200 dead and injured".

Here's what we know about the airstrike, which is the latest to have allegedly killed civilians as Nigeria's military grapples with a 17-year jihadist insurgency.

- What was targeted? -

The Nigerian military said Sunday it struck a "logistics hub" located "near the abandoned village of Jilli", along the Yobe-Borno border.

It said the area has long been known as a "major terrorist movement corridor and convergence point for Islamic State West Africa Province terrorists and their collaborators".

Local civilians wounded in the strike told AFP the attack hit the crowded Jilli market.

Borno State governor Babagana Umara Zulum said authorities closed the market five years ago for security reasons -- though local residents said that order had not actually been enforced and the market was operational.

An intelligence source told AFP the market "attracts traders from as far as northwestern Kano and Jigawa states" and that it is "entirely controlled by Boko Haram, which provides security and collects taxes from traders".

Wounded traders from the market denied that jihadists were present.

The Nigerian Air Force said it was investigating reports of civilian casualties.

According to security expert Kabir Adamu of Abuja-based Beacon Security and Intelligence, the deaths are a "tragic consequence of intense operational and political pressure on the Nigerian military."

- Why is the army under pressure? -

Jihadist attacks targeting military bases have intensified, with senior Nigerian army officers killed in recent months.

On Sunday evening, ISWAP killed 10 soldiers, including a colonel, in an attack on the Monguno garrison in the Lake Chad region, anti-jihadist militia sources told AFP Monday.

Since late 2025, the Nigerian government has been under pressure from the United States, which accuses it of not doing enough to combat the jihadist threat.

In December, the United States, in collaboration with Nigerian authorities, carried out airstrikes in northwestern Sokoto State targeting fighters from the Islamic State in the Sahel (ISSP), usually active in neighbouring Niger.

Washington has since started deploying 200 troops to Nigeria to support and train Nigerian forces.

The US Africa Command (AFRICOM) told AFP on Monday that "US forces were not involved in the planning, intelligence sharing, or execution" of the Jilli strike.

- Are civilian deaths common? -

Nigerian airstrikes often kill civilians.

"It is now a familiar pattern of a situation in which the military bombs civilians and turns around to claim it was aimed at terrorists or bandits. Nothing can justify bombing a weekly market," said Isa Sanusi, director of Amnesty International Nigeria.

In December 2023, an airstrike mistakenly hit a gathering of Muslim worshippers in Tudun Biri in neighbouring Kaduna state, killing at least 85 people.

In January 2025, a military airstrike killed at least 16 people in northwestern Zamfara state after an army jet mistook local vigilantes for criminal gangs.

The military rarely makes public the results of investigations into such strikes.

- Why are civilians killed? -

Malik Samuel, an Abuja-based researcher with the NGO Good Governance Africa, said the Nigerian military's "overreliance on airstrikes" is problematic.

Jihadists set up camps in remote and hard-to-access areas, sometimes close to or among civilians.

Fighters also need to resupply in local markets, and many civilians "collaborate with these groups in the form of logistics supply because ISWAP, especially, pays way above the market rates for goods," Samuel said.

"Some of these civilians don't support the group ideologically but the prospect of making money... is too good to turn down," he added, in a country where poverty is rising.

For some civilians, dealing with jihadists is a matter of survival, given the isolation of villages, scarcity of resources, and absence of security forces to protect them.

Others "don't even know" they are dealing with such groups, which often operate through intermediaries.

- What can the army do? -

"A systemic overhaul of the military's air campaign is required," said Adamu the security expert.

He added that that "transparent investigations" should be conducted by both the army and the defence ministry, and compensation should be given to victims and their families.

Civilians in jihadist controlled areas are also often assets to the military.

The army should "avoid over-reliance on air power," "strengthen intelligence capabilities," and "build trust through dialogue to encourage intelligence-sharing," Adamu added.