Sixty-nine killed in attack in southwest Niger, says government

A delegation led by the mayor of Banibangou was ambushed on Tuesday about 50 km (30 miles) from the city, close to the border with Mali. The space is overrun by militants related to an area affiliate of Islamic State that has killed lots of of civilians in rural communities this 12 months.Fifteen individuals survived and a search operation was underway, Interior Minister Alkache Alhada stated on state tv. No group claimed accountability for the attack.A poverty-stricken, arid zone of West Africa encompassing the borderlands of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso has been racked by violence in current years as armed teams, some linked with al Qaeda, have sought to ascertain management over communities and rid the area of native and worldwide navy forces. Thousands of civilians have been killed and thousands and thousands have been displaced.Not together with Tuesday's violence, Islamist teams have killed greater than 530 individuals in assaults on civilians in the frontier areas of southwest Niger this 12 months, over 5 instances greater than in all of 2020, in accordance with knowledge offered by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a consultancy which tracks political violence.