Attacks on civilians on the rise in western Niger
Songhai village in the Tillabéri region of Niger (Illustrative image).
De Agostini via Getty Images - DEA / N. CIRANI
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
In Niger, a new massacre of civilians has been perpetrated in the west of the country by suspected jihadists.
At least 37 people were killed Monday afternoon in an attack in Darey-Daye, a village 40 km east of the town of Banibangou, near the border with Mali.
It is a landlocked area in the Tillabéri region where atrocities committed by armed Islamist groups have increased since the start of the year.
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According to the human rights organization,
Human Rights Watch
, more than 420 civilians have been killed since the start of the year in the west of the country.
A figure to which is added
the victims
of Monday's
attack
in Darey-Daye.
This village 40 km from Banibangou was attacked twice in 6 months by armed men on motorcycles.
At the start of the year, 250 families lived there, explains a local elected official.
Today there are only a hundred left.
Attacks in the fields
This elected official admits to having also fled this area because of the insecurity.
Since the beginning of the year, civilians have been increasingly targeted, deplores Adamou Oumarou, a member of civil society in Tillabéri.
“
Today, they take advantage of the work in the fields to go and kill civilians in the fields.
Previously, it was in villages and hamlets.
Now it is even in the fields and we do not know for what reason.
Because at the start of the insecurity in the region, it was only the soldiers who were attacked.
"
Armed Islamist groups appear to be waging a war against the civilian population, Human Rights Watch notes.
Among the victims, there are women, village chiefs, imams, and many children.
We must equip our army with advanced logistical means so that we can end it.
Amadou Oumara, civil society
Alexandra Brangeon
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Niger
Terrorism