Niamey, SAEDNEWS, Jan. 2: At least 70 civilians have been killed in simultaneous attacks on two villages by suspected militants in Niger, near the border zone with Mali, according to two security sources. The local media adds that the residents of Tchombangou and Zaroumdareye villages close to Mali border were attacked 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.
A second source, a senior official in Niger's interior ministry who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said that around 30 other villagers had been killed in the village of Zaroumdareye.
Niger's government was not immediately available to comment.
The West African nation has previously suffered attacks by militants linked to Al Qaeda and Daesh. Attacks near the western border with Mali and Burkina Faso, and the southeastern border with Nigeria, killed hundreds of people last year (Source: TRT).
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