Dozens of Nigerian fishermen are feared dead after Chad’s military launched air strikes on Boko Haram militants in the Lake Chad region, according to the head of a Nigerian fisheries association who said several of his members were missing. Abubakar Gamandi Usman said more than 40 fishermen may have died, and no bodies had been recovered.
Usman said some of the fishermen were likely hit by the strikes while others drowned after trying to escape in overloaded boats. On Sunday, Chad’s presidency said it had carried out retaliatory intensive air strikes on Boko Haram strongholds after the group’s unjustified attacks last Monday and Wednesday killed at least 24 soldiers and two generals at military bases near Lake Chad.
The lake basin is shared by Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon, and has long been a sanctuary for Boko Haram and its rival faction, Islamic State West Africa Province. Usman said Boko Haram fighters retreated to islands they operate from after attacking Chadian forces, and that fishermen also live on those islands. When Chad’s air force began circling overhead on Friday, panic spread among both fighters and fishermen trying to flee.
Usman said the search for the missing was moving slowly because parts of Lake Chad are very deep and the local community has limited access to canoes, many of which are controlled by Boko Haram. He said the group controls access to the fishing grounds, transports fishermen to and from the fish market and fishing site, and collects taxes from them. That arrangement has left civilians exposed when military operations move into the area.
The danger is not new. In October 2024, Chad’s air force was said to have killed dozens of Nigerian fishermen during strikes targeting Boko Haram fighters on Tilma Island in Lake Chad. Nigeria’s armed forces have also recently denied media reports that civilians were killed in air strikes in central Niger state on Sunday, with military spokesperson Maj Gen Michael Onoja saying the operations were executed based on credible, actionable intelligence. For fishermen around Lake Chad, the latest strikes revive the same fear: that an offensive aimed at militants can still leave civilians with nowhere to run.
