Niger: dozens of villagers killed near the border with Mali

Published on : 08/17/2021 – 12:42

Another murderous attack in the “three borders” area. Suspected jihadists killed at least 37 civilians, including a dozen women and children, during the attack on Monday on a Nigerien village in the Tillabéri region, near Mali, said Tuesday (August 17th). from local sources to AFP.

“The attack took place in Darey-Daye at around 3 p.m. (2 p.m. GMT)” on Monday “by armed men on motorbikes” who shot “at people cultivating their fields,” an official said. elected local, specifying that “the toll is heavy: there were 37 deaths including four women and thirteen minors”. Four women were also injured, he said.

A journalist from the region confirmed the attack, which he described “as very bloody”. “They found the victims in their fields and they shot at anything that moved,” he said.

The village of Darey-Daye, located 40 km east of the town of Banibangou, has already been the target of armed men.

On March 15, suspected jihadists massacred a total of 66 people in attacks on Darey-Daye and on vehicles returning from the large weekly market in Banibangou.

Since the beginning of the year, suspected jihadists have increased bloody assaults against civilians in the Banibangou department, a landlocked area in the northeast of the Tillabéri region, located in the so-called “three borders” area between Niger , Burkina Faso and Mali.

This area has been the scene for years of bloody actions by jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) group committed against civilians and soldiers.

At least 420 civilians killed since early 2021, according to HRW

Since the start of the rainy season in June, the attacks have mainly targeted civilians working in the fields.

On August 9, “armed individuals” attacked “populations working in a field” in the village of Falanzandan, in the same department of Banibangou, killing 15 people and wounding two others, according to the Nigerien interior ministry.

On July 25, 14 civilians were killed in the village of Wiyé, and three days later, on July 28, 19 people were massacred in the village of Dèye Koukou, also in this department of Banibangou, according to the authorities.

As in Monday’s attack, the attackers came on motorcycles and some victims were coldly shot, witnesses said.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) last week estimated more than 420 civilians have been killed since the start of the year in western Niger in attacks by jihadist groups, which have also forced dozens of thousands of people flee their homes.

With AFP