At least thirteen people were killed Wednesday March 24 in Niger during attacks on three villages in the Tillabéri region (west) near Mali, according to local authorities.
A previous report reported eleven dead.
"The results are as follows: six people died in Zibane-Koira Zéno, one person in Zibane Koira-Tégui and six people in Gadabo so thirteen people lost their lives,"
said Tidjani Ibrahim Katiella, the governor of Tillabéri, to public television.
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Ibrahim Katiella is part of a delegation of civilian and military officials, including the Chief of Staff of the Armies of Niger, General Salifou Mody, who visited the scene of the attacks on Thursday.
“What worries us a lot is this escalation of violence and insecurity that is spreading across the region.
Levy of zakat
(Islamic tax)
, kidnappings of cattle and today it is the civilian population that is being massacred ”
, he denounced during a meeting with the inhabitants of the targeted villages.
He assured that
"The government will not stand idly by and measures will be taken to secure the populations and put out of harm's way these bandits without faith or law".
"Operational patrols will be organized to appease the spirits,"
he promised.
“The attackers came on several motorcycles around 5 pm local time. They killed three people in Zibane-Koira Zéno, another in Zibane Koira-Tégui and seven others in Gadabo, with one wounded, ”
an elected representative from the area told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The attackers
"surrounded the villages"
and those who sought to flee were pursued and killed, according to this elected official.
"They took away animals, burned down classes in a school and ransacked a health center"
which provides care to several villages in the area, he added.
The three villages, which are located in an area that is difficult to access, are a few kilometers apart.
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In May 2020, twenty people were killed in these same three villages, during attacks carried out by heavily armed men who came on motorcycles and who then fled towards Mali, according to the authorities.
Attacks against civilians have increased since the start of the year in Niger: more than 300 people have been killed in three series of attacks against villages and camps in the west of the country, bordering Mali.
None have been claimed.
The last of these large-scale attacks took place on Sunday in the Tahoua region, killing 137 people in a few hours in three Tuareg villages and surrounding camps.
The region of Tahoua, vast and desert, lies to the east of that of Tillabéri, both close to the border with Mali.
The Tillabéri region is located in the so-called
“three borders” area
between Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, regularly hit by jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State (IS).
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