Amnesty International in a report today said, Nigeria's air force killed at least 35 people in attacks on villages in the northeastern state of Adamawa in December. <br/><br/>Residents of the villages described being fired upon by a fighter jet and military helicopter as they attempted to flee, at the same time as hundreds of herdsmen took part in a revenge attack on the communities for earlier killings, Amnesty said. <br/><br/>Launching air raids is not a legitimate law enforcement method by anyone's standard, said Osai Ojigho, Amnesty's country director for Nigeria, in today's report.<br/><br/>Such reckless use of deadly force is unlawful, outrageous and lays bare the Nigerian military's shocking disregard for the lives of those it supposedly exists to protect, she said.<br/><br/>The report is the latest challenge to the military on human rights and the attacks suggest a deadly crisis between herders and farmers is spiralling out of government control. <br/><br/>Reports of abuses and military excesses rarely result in Nigeria's military meeting out public discipline to officers. <br/><br/>Air Force spokesman Olatokunbo Adesanya denied it had bombed any locations in the region or fired shots targeting people, saying it had opened fire to dissuade looters and vandals. Adesanya said he was unaware of any human casualties.