At least 27 people were killed during the night of Saturday December 12 to Sunday December 13 in an attack by the jihadist group Boko Haram in the Diffa region in south-eastern Niger, near Nigeria, according to a local official.

"There were officially 27 dead, wounded and a few missing in this attack which is the work of Boko Haram," said an official from the department of Bosso to which the commune of Toumour where the attack took place. 

Witnesses and local elected officials confirmed the attack, without giving an assessment.

It occurs on the day of municipal and regional elections in the country.

"Some victims were killed or wounded by bullets, others charred inside the huts totally consumed by the flames of a huge fire caused by the attackers", noted this official.

“Between 800 and 1,000 houses were set on fire, the central market was also set on fire,” as were many vehicles, he lamented.

"The assailants, whose number is estimated at nearly 70, arrived in Toumour around 6:45 p.m. local time on foot, after swimming across (the waters of Lake Chad) and raged for three hours," said the official, who said. requested anonymity. 

An "attack of incredible barbarism"

"They first attacked the residence of the traditional chief who was able to escape them in extremis", he noted.

"It was an attack of incredible barbarism. Nearly 60% of the village was destroyed," commented a local elected official, also on condition of anonymity.

The jihadist group Boko Haram, born in Nigeria in 2009, has established bases on some of the multiple islets dotting Lake Chad, a vast swampy expanse on the border between Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

Since 2016, the Boko Haram group has split into two factions: that of Abubakar Shekau, the historic leader of the group, and the Islamic State in West Africa (Iswap), affiliated with ISIS - notably installed around Lake Chad.

The Nigerien authorities do not differentiate between members of Boko Haram and Iswap, qualifying all these jihadist fighters as elements of Boko Haram.

With AFP

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