At least nineteen killed in attack on village in western Niger

At least nineteen killed in attack on village in western Niger

Residents of Zibane-Koira Zéno, a village in the Tillabéri region (western Niger close to Mali) stands in the village during a meeting on May 12, 2020, after an attack by armed men on May 8, 2020. (Photo by BOUREIMA HAMA / AFP)

At least 19 civilians were killed when armed men raided a village in west Niger close to the border with Mali, officials reported, in the latest case of bloodshed in the troubled region.

The governor of Tillaberi region said dozens of heavily armed attackers on motorbikes stormed the village of Gaigorou on Saturday evening, Al-Jazeera reported.

Governor Ibrahim Tidjani Katiella told DPA news agency that the attackers, who likely came from Mali, surrounded the village and started killing the inhabitants.

A municipal official from Dessa on Sunday confirmed that 19 people were killed and two others wounded in the attack.

He told AFP news agency that the assailants initially attacked people at a funeral, before going on to the village where they “shot at everyone they saw,” the official said.

The Tillaberi region is situated on the lawless “three-border” zone where the frontiers of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso converge, and has regularly been the target of armed groups affiliated with Daesh (ISIS).

Source: Mehr News Agency