Armed men on motorcycles attacked a group of civilians returning from a market day in a volatile corner of Niger, leaving at least 58 dead and burning barns, the government said on Tuesday. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday’s massacres, although Islamic State extremists in the Greater Sahara are known to be active in the Tillaberi region, where the villages were attacked.
The victims were returning home from a large cattle market in Banibangou, close to the troubled border between Niger and Mali. The alleged extremists also destroyed nearby granaries that contained valuable food stores.
The announcement was read on Niger state television on Tuesday night by government spokesman Abdourahmane Zakaria, who declared three days of national mourning for the victims.
Monday’s attacks underscore the enormous security challenges faced by Niger’s new president, Mohamed Bazoum, who won the election in late February to succeed outgoing leader Mahamadou Issoufou.
Not only are jihadists active in the Tillaberi region, but counterterrorism 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 dead in two villages also in the Tillaberi region that were not claimed by any extremist or militia groups.
Extremists organized 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.