AT LEAST 56 DEAD IN NIGER TERROR ATTACK

Sun 03 January 2021:

At least 56 civilians were killed Saturday after terrorists attacked two villages in southwestern Niger, a government official said.

Suspected militants stormed two villages in western Niger late Saturday, killing at least 56 civilians and wounding 20 others, Interior Minister Alkache Alhada said.

The suspected terror attack took place in the villages of Tchombangou and Zaroumdareye, near the border with Mali, Alhada said.

Security sources cited by Reuters news agency said as many as 70 civilians had been killed.

Niger, located in the troubled Sahel region, has seen a rise in attacks by extremist groups vying for territory. Violent attacks near the country’s western border with Mali and Burkina Faso, and the southeastern border with Nigeria, killed hundreds of people last year.

A landlocked country in Africa’s Sahel region, Niger faces complex security and humanitarian challenges. It hosts about 230,000 refugees and 250,000 internally displaced persons, according to the UN.

File Photo