At least 70 civilians were killed in simultaneous attacks on two villages by suspected Muslim militants in Niger, near the border zone with Mali, security sources said on Saturday.
About 49 villagers were killed and 17 people wounded in the village of Tchombangou, said one of the security sources, who requested anonymity.
“The attackers came to surround the village and killed up to 50 people. The wounded were taken to Ouallam hospital,” a local radio station journalist said on condition of anonymity.
A third source, a senior official in the Niger Ministry of the Interior who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said that about 30 other villagers had been killed in the village of Zaroumdareye.
The attack came on the same day election officials announced results for the first round of Niger’s presidential vote that put ruling party candidate and former government minister Mohamed Bazoum in the clear lead, with a runoff set for next month.
The vast and unstable Tillaberi region is located in the so-called tri-border area, a militant-plagued zone where the porous borders of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso converge.
Four thousand people across the three nations died in 2019 from militant violence and ethnic bloodshed stirred by extremists, the UN has said.
Seven Nigerian soldiers were killed in an ambush in Tillaberi on Dec. 21.
Travel by motorbike has been banned in Tillaberi since January last year to prevent incursions by highly mobile militants riding on two wheels.
Separately, the French presidency announced that two French soldiers were killed on Saturday in Mali when an improvised explosive device hit their armored vehicle, five days after three others died in similar circumstances.
The soldiers were participating in an intelligence mission in the Menaka region of northeastern Mali, as part of a larger operation aimed at fighting extremists in Africa’s Sahel region.
A third soldier has been injured and is in a stable condition, the French military said.
On Monday last week, three other soldiers were killed in Mali when an improvised explosive device hit their armored vehicle during a military operation in the Hombori area of central Mopti Province.
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed “his great sadness” in a statement released late on Saturday.
He reaffirmed France’s determination “in its fight against terrorism” and paid tribute to the “courage” of French soldiers.
France has more than 5,000 troops deployed in West Africa to help fight extremist groups as part of Operation Barkhane.
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