Among the eight people, including six French, shot dead by men on motorcycles in Niger on Sunday are several Acted employees, the NGO announced in a statement. The organization has been helping displaced populations for several years in the country.

Several employees of the French NGO Acted were killed on Sunday by men on motorcycles in the Kouré area in Niger during a tourist excursion, the organization told AFP. "Among the eight people killed in Niger, several are Acted employees," said Joseph Breham, an NGO lawyer.

According to a Nigerien source, six French and two Nigeriens were killed in this attack in an area that is home to the last herds of West African giraffes. Paris confirmed that the French had perished without specifying the number and announced that the French army was providing support to the Nigerien troops after this attack.

From 800 to 200 employees in the area in a few years

"Most of the victims were shot dead and a woman who managed to escape was caught and slaughtered. On the spot, a magazine emptied of its cartridges was found", noted a source close to the services of the environment. "We do not know the identity of the attackers but they came by motorbike through the bush and waited for the arrival of the tourists."

Present in Niger since 2010 with displaced populations, particularly because of the conflict in the Three Borders zone (Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger) and the Lake Chad crisis, Acted has 200 employees in the country against 800 several years ago, said the lawyer for the NGO.