NIAMEY (Reuters) – About 60 people have been killed in an attack on the village of Banibangou in southwest Niger, two local officials told Reuters.
Details of Tuesday’s raid on a remote area near the border with Mali were spare and no group has claimed responsibility, said Zakari Karidjo, the deputy of the department of Banibangou. He said that there was a clash and that there were losses on both sides.
The prefect of a neighbouring department confirmed the death toll.
The attack occurred in an area overrun by jihadists associated with a local affiliate of Islamic State that has killed hundreds of civilians in attacks on rural communities this year.
The borderlands of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have been racked by violence in recent years as armed groups, some linked with al Qaeda, have sought to establish control over communities and rid the region of local and international military forces.
(Reporting by Boureima Balima, writing by Edward McAllister; editing by Mark Heinrich)
