The attacks that occurred Saturday, the day of the announcement of the presidential election results were reportedly a revenge following the death of two scouts of armed groups, killed by self-defense committees.
Niger has just suffered one of the worst massacres of civilians recorded on its soil. Indeed, the attacks that took place this weekend in two villages located in the west of the country, about 120 kilometers north of the capital Niamey, reportedly killed about a hundred people and several wounded.
No armed group has claim responsibility for the attacks but the authorities do not exclude a terrorist act. The attacks took place in the area known as the “three borders” near Mali and Burkina Faso and are a regular target of jihadists.
The double attack was perpetrated “by terrorists who came aboard a hundred motorcycles.” to attack the two villages (7 kilometers apart), the attackers divided into two columns: while one attacked Zaroumadareye, the other attacked Tchoma Bangou,” the mayor of Tondikiwindi, Almou Hassane explained.
The attacks were reported Saturday by local elected officials but without a precise death toll. A source had then evoked “about fifty deaths.” On Tele Sahel (public), the Prime Minister, who visited the scene on Sunday, deplored “a disastrous toll,” “a horrible situation,” speaking of 70 deaths in Tchoma Bangou and “about thirty” in Zaroumadareye. He confirmed the mayor’s previous estimate of 100 deaths as the mayor also reported “25 wounded.”
Accompanied by Interior Minister Alkache Alhada, Defense Minister Issoufou Katambé, and Governor of Tillabéri Tidjani Ibrahim Katiella, the Prime Minister promised “investigations to ensure that these crimes are not left unpunished.” He also stated that “the government will very soon take measures to ensure that the populations of these villages are secure in the best conditions.”
According to the Nigerien public channel, the authorities plan to install “a military company” as part of the anti-jihadist operation “Almahaou” “to secure all the threatened villages” in the area.
President Mahamadou Issoufou presented Sunday, in a tweet, his “most emotional condolences to the people of Tchombangou and Zaroumdareye, following the cowardly and barbaric attack on their villages.”
According to a senior official in the Tillaberi region, the deadly attack was perpetrated around noon (11:00 GMT). At the same time as the announcement of the results of the first round of the presidential election of December 27.
Mohamed Bazoum, the candidate of the ruling party, came first with 39.33 percent of the votes. The former Minister of the Interior intends to strengthen the fight against jihadist groups.
In a video, he indicated that he has a “pious thought” for the populations affected by this “tragedy (which) reminds us that terrorist groups are a serious threat to cohesion within our communities and a danger like no other comparable.”
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