In Niger, twenty people were killed on Saturday during attacks on villages in the Tillabéri region (west of the country), the governor of this region near Mali announced on Sunday (May 10th) to AFP. 

"These are armed bandits who came on several motorcycles around 5.30 p.m. local time (4.30 p.m. GMT). They attacked residents in three villages and killed 20 people," Tidjani Ibrahim Katiella, governor of the city, told AFP. Tillabéri region.

The assailants whose number is not determined "looted shops to take cereals and they also took cattle before leaving in the north", towards Mali, said the governor. 

According to a local source, the villages attacked are Gadabo, Zibane Koira-Zeno and Zibane-Tegui, all administered by the commune of Anzourou located some 50 km from Tillaberi, the large city in western Niger, distant from 'a hundred km from the border with Mali. 

Attacks in the three border area

The Tillabéri region is located in the strategic area of ​​the three Niger-Mali-Burkina borders.

To combat jihadists operating regularly in this area, the authorities took new measures in January, including banning motorbike traffic day and night and closing certain markets "which supply terrorists with fuel and grain ", according to Tidjani Ibrahim Katiella. 

The government has just renewed the state of emergency in force in the area since 2017. 

According to an official report, 174 soldiers have been killed in three attacks in this region since December 2019: in Chinégodar (89 dead on January 8), Inates (71 dead on December 10) and Sanam (14 dead on December 24). The three attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group. 

In March, the Malian, Nigerien armies and the French Barkhane force had carried out an operation of an unprecedented scale on the borders of Mali and Niger, which mobilized nearly 5,000 men and made it possible to eliminate "a large number of terrorists" , announced the French general staff. Since then, France said it had seen an improvement in the area of ​​the three borders. 

France, which has an air base with drones and Mirages at Niamey airport, has deployed 5,100 soldiers as part of Operation Barkhane in the Sahel. 

Jihadist violence, often interspersed with inter-community conflicts, claimed the lives of 4,000 people in 2019 in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, according to the UN.

With AFP

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