A new massacre of civilians was carried out this week in western Niger, near the border with Mali, by alleged jihadists who killed at least 37 people; more than 450 people have been killed in the area since the beginning of the year.
The massacre took place on Monday at noon in the village of Dare-Dage, which had already been targeted in March in the Tilaberi district, in the so-called “tri-national border zone” of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali. bloody attacks by jihadist organizations swearing allegiance to either Al Qaeda or the Islamic State (IS).
The bomber struck shortly after 3pm (local time; 5pm Greek time) on Monday by “motorcyclists” and opened fire “on people cultivating their fields”, a local elected official told AFP. “The toll is heavy: we have 37 dead, including four women and thirteen minors.” According to him, four other women were injured.
The attack and the death toll were confirmed by the government. “The attack on peaceful civilians was carried out by terrorist elements who came from a neighboring country to which they returned” after the massacre, according to a government press release.
As in previous attacks, a Nigerian government spokesman assured yesterday that “security and health measures have been stepped up in the area” and that “an investigation is under way” to “find and bring to justice the perpetrators of these” cowardly criminal acts “.
The target village is located 40 kilometers east of Banibangu, the capital of the province of the same name.
On March 15, jihadists allegedly massacred a total of 66 people in attacks on the village and against vehicles returning from a weekly street market in Banbang.
Since the beginning of the year, so-called jihadists have escalated deadly attacks on civilians in Banibangu, an enclosed area in the northeastern part of Tilamberi district.
Since the start of the rainy season in June, the attacks have targeted mainly farmers working in the fields.
On August 9, “gunmen” attacked “civilians working in a field” in the village of Falanzandan in Banibangu, killing 15 people and wounding two others, according to the Niger Interior Ministry.
“War on the civilian population”
On July 25, 14 civilians were killed in the village of Uige; three days later, on July 28, 19 people were massacred in the village of Dege Koukou, according to authorities. The perpetrators were riding motorcycles, as in the attack the day before yesterday. Some victims were executed in cold blood, according to eyewitnesses.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported last week that more than 420 civilians had been killed since the beginning of the year in western Niger in attacks by jihadists, forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee the area. .
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“Armed Islamist groups appear to be waging war against the civilian population in western Niger. “They kill, they loot, they set on fire, they leave behind death and destruction,” said Corinne Dafka, director of HRW’s Sahel division.
Among the victims are community leaders, imams, people with disabilities and many children, some of whom were “executed after being snatched from their parents’ hands”, according to the same NGO.
According to the official report, 307 people were slaughtered between January and March: 100 in January, 66 on March 15 and 141 on March 21.
The provinces of Tilabery and Taua remain unstable, despite ongoing efforts to restore security.
In its southeastern part, Niger is simultaneously facing the horrors of the jihadists of Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa (IKDA).
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