Nigeria: Armed men on motorbikes shot 14 civilians in an attack on a village in western Niger, near the unsettled border with Mali, the government announced on Monday.
The shooting on Sunday “targeted civilians, killing 14, including 9 workings in fields” at Banibangou, the interior ministry noted. The area is prone to jihadist raids.
Also, one wounded person had been evacuated for treatment in the capital Niamey, the ministry replied.
The attack happened on Sunday at nearby 3:00 pm (1400 GMT), when the attackers arrived at the village of Wiye, in the Banibangou district about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the border with Mali.
Security agencies had been stepped up, and an investigation was underway to identify & deliver to trial those responsible for “these cowardly & barbaric attacks,” the ministry added.
Banibangou falls inside what is recognised as the three-borders region between Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali, which for many years has been the scene of bloody attacks by jihadist groups associated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
In mid-March, an attack by supposed jihadists in the same district targeting a village market left sixty-six people dead.
Moreover, on June 24, attacks on villages in Tondikiwindi, in a neighboring district, killed 19 people.
Despite repeated efforts by the officials to secure the region, the deadly attacks have remained, often taken out by gunmen on motorbikes who flee beyond the border into Mali after their raids.
A contingent of 1,200 Chadian soldiers is stationed in the three-borders region as part of a multinational force put collectively by the G5 Sahel group, which includes Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger.
Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali is the eighth-largest nation in Africa, with an area of just over 1,240,000 square kilometres. The population of Mali is 19.1 million. 67% of its population was considered to be under the age of 25 in 2017
Ramanjot Kaur is a dedicated journalist with a Master’s in Journalism and Mass Communication, specializing in economic and political news reporting with incisive analysis and integrity.
