Armed men on motorcycles attacked a group of civilians who were returning from a market day in a volatile corner of Niger, leaving at least 58 dead and then setting barns on fire.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the massacres, although Islamic State extremists in the Greater Sahara are known to operate in the Tillaberi region, where the villages were attacked.
The victims returned home on Monday from a large cattle market in Banibangou, near Niger’s troubled border with Mali. The nearby granaries destroyed by the alleged extremists contained valuable food stores.
The announcement was read on Niger state television late Tuesday by government spokesman Abdourahmane Zakaria. He declared three days of national mourning for the victims.
The attacks underscore the enormous security challenges faced by Niger’s new president, Mohamed Bazoum, who won the elections in late February to succeed outgoing leader Mahamadou Issoufou.
Not only are jihadists active in the Tillaberi region, but terrorist offensives against these extremists have helped to give rise to ethnic militias, analysts say. As a result, intercommunity tensions have been exacerbated, especially near the border between Mali and Niger.
Monday’s attack echoed a January massacre that left 100 people killed in two villages also in the Tillaberi region that were not claimed by any extremist group or militia.
Extremists have already carried out mass attacks against Nigerian military personnel in the Tillaberi region, killing more than 70 in December 2019 and more than 89 in January 2020. It is close to the area where four US Special Forces soldiers were killed along with five Nigerian colleagues in 2017.