12 Killed As Gunmen Attack Field Workers In Niger

At least twelve people were reportedly killed when some gunmen attacked two communities in the Niger Republic recently.

It was gathered that the citizens were killed in the Tillaberi border region while they were working in the fields.

Naija News learnt that the latest attack in the region was confirmed to journalists by a municipal official in the Anzourou district.

He disclosed that the victims were all male and from the villages of Doukou Saraou and Doukou Makani, which lie barely a kilometre (half a mile) apart.

The official noted that the unstable and arid Tillaberi region lies in the tri-border zone where southwestern Niger meets Mali and Burkina Faso. The region is also said to be a hot spot of activity for insurgents linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

Despite a state of emergency and the deployment of large numbers of anti-jihadist forces, attacks are still common in the region.

Amid the attacks, French soldiers are fighting alongside Nigerien counterparts in Tillaberi, the authorities in both countries say.

Barely a week ago, the United Nations stated that nearly 11,000 people in southwestern Niger had fled their homes this month.

According the to UN, the Tillaberi region has 150,000 internally displaced people.

Several villages in Anzourou district were hit between May 2020 and August 2021 when dozens of people were massacred by gunmen on motorbikes.

Niger is also fighting long-running jihadist violence in its southeast, which spills across the border from Nigeria, this publication understands.