At least 18 people were killed last Wednesday by gunmen in the Garek area. The victims are Malian refugees fleeing fighting between rival jihadist groups not far from the Malian town of Tamalate.
With our correspondent in Niamey, Moussa Kaka
News from the Égarek area located 17 kilometers west of Tillia prefecture confirms the information. Unidentified assailants on motorbikes attacked the Daoussak Malian refugee camp in Niger territory. A dozen people were massacred and their animals carried away.
Well-informed sources, these massacres could be reprisals following the neutralization in aerial bombardments by Nigerien and French forces of several senior executives of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (EIGS). On January 24, Emir Abou Ali, of the Wilaya of the Sahel, his deputy Bawa Wodi and several other lieutenants were neutralized at the Niger border. The great leader Perodji of the katiba of Daesh narrowly escaped these strikes. As for Petit Chafori, the fearsome jihadist leader responsible for the deaths of American and Nigerien soldiers in Tongo Tongo, he was killed during fighting between rival jihadist groups in Mali’s Tamalate Valley.
For several weeks, Nigerien and French special forces have been putting pressure on jihadist groups along the Niger-Malian border.