According to security sources, several groups of gunmen attacked three villages in the Tahoua region. The results are still preliminary.
With our Special Correspondent in Niamey, Gaelle Laleix
Information seeps in because the Tillia region, located near the Malian border, is a desert area, very isolated. The telecommunications networks that are more than fragmentary.
Nevertheless, several sources at the scene explained that the attack took place in the afternoon. Several dozen men arrived on motorcycles. They attacked nomadic camps in the cities of the Intazays, Woursanat and Bakorat.
In the first two camps, they opened fire on people who were at the boreholes and water points while watering their animals. A large proportion of the victims are internally displaced. The Tahoua region is experiencing growing uncertainty. The Islamic State group in Greater Sahara has recently expanded its team there.
A large and desert area
According to our information, an SDF patrol, the Defense and Security Forces, would have left the Intikane to go to the attacked sites at this time. A few days earlier, there was already a military presence near the villages. The attackers reportedly waited for their departure before putting their plan into action.
This type of situation happens often. This was already the case during the massacres in Tchomabangou and Zaroumdareye, in Tillabéry, this time in January. A patrol had spent two days in these villages, and the attack took place the day after his departure.
You must also understand the nature of the terrain. The Tahoua region, like Tillabéry, is vast, desert and has very few roads. It takes hours, sometimes days, for the SDF to reach the site of an attack.
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