NIMAY, Niger (AP) – Gunmen on motorcycles attacked a group of civilians returning from a market day in a volatile corner of Niger, killing at least 58 people and then burning grain to the ground, it said Tuesday.
Immediate responsibility for Monday’s massacre was not claimed, although extremists affiliated with the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara group are believed to be active in the Tilaberi area where villages were attacked.
The victims were returning home from a large livestock market in Banibangau, near the border with the gardener. Suspected extremists also destroyed nearby grain stores containing valuable food stores.
The announcement was read on Niger State Television on Tuesday evening by government spokesman Abdurrahman Zakaria, who declared three days of national mourning for the victims.
Monday’s attacks highlight the enormous security challenges facing Niger’s new president, Mohamed Bazoum, who won the election in late February with the victory of leader Mahamadou Isoufou.
Analysts say jihadists are not only active in the Tilaberi area, but that counterterrorism operations against extremists have helped boost the ethnic army, analysts say. Interpersonal tensions have intensified, especially as a result of the proximity of the Mali-Niger border.
Monday’s attack was similar to the January massacre, which also killed 100 people in two villages in the Tilaberi area, which was not claimed by any terrorist group or army.
The militants carried out mass attacks on Nigerian troops in the Tilaberi region, killing more than 70 people in December 2019 and more than 89 in January 2020. This is close to the area where five Nigerian comrades, along with five U.S. Special Forces soldiers, were killed in 2017.
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Crista Lars, author of the Associated Press in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report.
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