Gunmen on motorcycles attacked a group
of civilians returning from market day in a volatile corner of Niger,
leaving at least 58 people dead and then burning granaries to the
ground, the government said Tuesday.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday's
massacres, though extremists belonging to the Islamic State in the
Greater Sahara group are known to be active in the Tillaberi region
where the villages were attacked.
The victims were returning home from a large livestock market in
Banibangou, near Niger's troubled border with Mali. The suspected
extremists also destroyed nearby granaries that held valuable food
stores. The announcement was read on Niger state television Tuesday
evening by government spokesman Abdourahmane Zakaria , who declared
three days of national mourning for the victims.
Monday's attacks underscore the enormous security
challenges facing Niger's new president, Mohamed Bazoum, who won the
election in late February to succeed outgoing leader Mahamadou
Issoufou.
Not only are jihadis active in the Tillaberi region, but the
counterterrorism offensives against those extremists have helped give
rise to ethnic militias, analysts say. Intercommunal tensions have been
exacerbated as a result, particularly near the border between Mali and
Niger.
Monday's attack echoed a January massacre that left 100 people dead
in two villages also in the Tillaberi region that hadn't been claimed by
any extremist group or militia.
Extremists staged mass attacks on Niger's military in the Tillaberi
region, killing more than 70 in December 2019 and more than 89 in
January 2020. It's near the area where four U.S. Special Forces soldiers
were killed along with five Nigerien colleagues in 2017.
