- Jihadists groups have been terrorising the region for years
At least 22 persons were killed on Sunday when suspected Jihadists attacked a village in the western part of Niger Republic.
The attacked village, Motogatta, is in the massive Tillaberi region where Niger borders Mali and Burkina Faso.
Jihadists groups have been terrorising the region for years.
“Unfortunately, 22 people died in the attack, including some self-defence militiamen,” a local elected official told AFP on Monday.
The toll was confirmed by a resident of a nearby town.
The official said that the assaillants arrived on motorbikes in the village around 4 pm (1500 GMT).
“They started shooting, killing people on the spot,” he said.
Niger is battling two jihadist insurgencies — a spillover in its southeast from a decade long conflict in neighbouring Nigeria, and an offensive in the west by militants crossing from Mali and Burkina Faso.
When military leaders overthrew democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, they cited the deterioration of the security situation in the country as justification.
On December 17, coup leader General Abdourahamane Tiani said the security situation was “progressively normalising” after the army’s “multiple successes” in quelling unrest.