Maghreb Edition

Niger: Suspected Jihadis strike in southwest Niger, kill threeF

Posted On 14 February 2019

Number of times this article was read : 371

Feb 13, 2019 – Two policemen and a civilian were killed on Wednesday in a village in remote southwestern Niger, a region that until now has been spared jihadist attacks, local officials said. Five armed men, arriving on three motorcycles, attacked a market in the village of Bagaji, an official for Dogondoutchi district told AFP by phone. The account was confirmed by a local inhabitant, who said security forces were pursuing the attackers.

An official at the prefect’s office told local radio that two gendarmes and a street hawker were killed, and the attackers “fled north” towards the regions of Tillaberi and Tahoua. It is the first attack by suspected jihadists in the Dogondoutchi area, officials said.

Niger lies to the north of Nigeria, the birthplace of an insurgency launched in 2009 by Boko Haram jihadists that has spread across the Lake Chad basin. The campaign has cost at least 27,000 lives and displaced 1.8 million people.

By AFP

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