Terrorists troubling Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have killed nineteen civilians in Western Niger, in another troubling report of armed militants’ activities in the region.
Civilians have been severely targeted in recent months with the latest happening at Danga Zawne in Niger’s western Tillabery region, Karidjo Hamadou, the mayor of the town of Tonkiwindi said.
Hamadou who was quiet on where the attack came from said “three people were killed in the village and the others were killed in the fields,”
Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have come under attacks by militants from Islamic State and Al-Qaeda with civilians targeted even more since the turn of the year.
Not less than 100 civilians were killed on January 2 in violent attacks on two villages in Tillabery and at least 137 people were slain in coordinated attacks in March, in Tahoua, a region very close to Tillabery.
All three countries have had troubled leadership in the past with Mali facing a coup two times in about a year. Leader of the coup, Col. Assimi Goita is now the nation’s interim transitional President. Niger also had its first democratic transition in 60 years in February when Mohamed Bazoum won the Presidential election, while Burkina Faso also voted in its interim President, Roch Marc Christian Kabore for a second term in 2020 amid heavy security threats. Kabore’s leadership has been filled with various battles against militants in the region with Burkina Faso coming under severe attacks.
Local ethnic conflicts in Niger have punctured the security architecture of the country, allowing the militants to launch attacks on unsuspecting civilians.
