At least 65 people died in a terrorist attack near Banibangou, in the Tillabery region of western Niger. According to security sources, villagers were attacked on Monday.
The gunmen reportedly carried out their attack on two routes, one connecting Banibangou to Chinagoder and the other to Darey-Dey. The victims were villagers returning from the weekly market in Banibangou, near the border with Mali. This is a large livestock market, important to the economy of the region.
According to local sources, the vehicles in which the villagers were traveling were stopped by the gunmen, who reportedly shot the passengers inside and then set fire to the vehicles and the granaries of nearby villages. “Everywhere they go, they burn the granaries to force people to leave the villages,” said a local authority. Every day there are attacks,” said Maïga Amidou, coordinator of the Tillabéry Union Committee for Security and Social Cohesion. People are afraid, they don’t want to sleep at home anymore,” he concludes.
This is not the first time that this part of Tillabéry has experienced a major lethal attack. In December 2020, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara group attacked the Chinagoder military base, killing nearly 100 soldiers. A year later, civilians – also around 100 – were massacred in the attack on the villages of Tomabangou and Zaroumdareye.
