The aftermath of an attack in August in Niger, which has suffered a number claimed by jihadist groups. Photo:Getty
The World Daily | News Desk JANUARY 3rd 2021
Jihadists attacked two villages in western Niger. According to the Reuters news agency, Islamists murdered 79 people. Information about the attack was confirmed by local authorities.
The villages that were attacked were Tchoumbangou and Zaroumdareye in the Tillabéri region on the border with Mali. According to Reuters sources, both towns were attacked simultaneously. As announced by Interior Minister Alkache Alhada, soldiers have been sent to the region.
As reported by Reuters, 79 people were killed in the attacks. 49 people lost their lives in Tchoumbangou and 30 people died in Zaroumdareye.
The perpetrators are not known thus far. Both Niger and neighbouring Mali have been struggling for years with attacks by jihadist militias linked to al-Qaeda and the so-called Islamic State. Since 2010, when local terrorist groups began to operate in Niger, trying to impose Islamic laws and customs on the local society, several hundred people have died at the hands of jihadists in this country.
Two-track vehicles have been banned in the entire region for a year - in the past, Islamists carried out attacks using motorcycles and scooters.
The supporter of the country's democratization leads in the elections.
The attack came on the same day the results of the first round of Niger's presidential elections were announced. The vote on December 27 was won by the country's former interior minister from the ruling Party for Democracy and Socialism, Mohamed Bazoum. He won nearly 40 percent of the vote, the Central Election Commission announced on Saturday. In the second round of the elections of the head of state, the politician will face former president Mahamane Ousmane, who ruled from 1993 to 1996 and won 17 percent of the vote in the first round.
Bazoum is considered the “right hand” of the current President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, and like him, he is in favour of the democratization of the country's political life.
Mohamed Bazoum. Photo:EPA
Attack on French soldiers in Mali.
Also on Saturday, jihadists from the Islamic and Muslim Support Group (GSIM), the North African subsidiary of Al-Qaeda, pleaded guilty to Monday's attack on three French soldiers in eastern Mali on the border with Niger and Burkina Faso.
© The World Daily 2021 | News Desk
