Terrorist attacks have escalated in Niger, with more than 20 people, mostly civilians, reportedly killed this week.
“Two soldiers and a civilian have been killed in Niger in a fresh suspected terrorist attack in the restive region of Tillaberi,” the country’s defense ministry said.
The attack was carried out by “terrorists on some 20 motorcycles” in the Tabala village, some 100 kilometers east of the capital Niamey, according to a ministry statement released late on Wednesday.
Three attackers were killed in the clash and authorities were searching for the rest, the statement added.
Meanwhile, another terrorist group killed around 20 people in the Tillaberi village near the borders with Mali earlier this week, local newspapers reported on Wednesday.
The victims included women and children, they said.
“The Tillaberi region is in a state of mourning after the attack,” the newspapers wrote.
The military junta, which has ruled Niger since last year, sent a delegation from the transitional government to the village to offer condolences to the families of the victims.
On Monday night, the Support for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), affiliated to Al-Qaeda group, attacked an army position in a village near the border with Burkina Faso, and killed at least seven soldiers.
The Nigerian Defense Ministry said the army had successfully repelled the attack and killed dozens of terrorists.
The statement, broadcast on Nigerian state television, added that the transitional government and the ruling junta in Niger assured citizens that “the security and defense forces are moving forward in the fight against terrorism until it is eliminated.”
The latest security developments came as US troops will complete their withdrawal from Niger by the middle of September, the Pentagon said last Sunday.
