Niger: More than 100 useless civilians in village assaults

Attackers on motorbikes swept by two villages in western Niger, leaving scores useless in every, an area mayor mentioned on Sunday.
The assaults, on the villages of Tchoma Bangou and Zaroumadareye within the jihadi-plagued Tillaberi area, are solely the most recent in a string of massacres of civilians. They happened as first-round nationwide presidential outcomes have been introduced.
Almou Hassane, the mayor of the Tondikiwindi commune that administers each villages, mentioned the assaults have been waged by “terrorists who came riding about 100 motorcycles.”
The attackers apparently cut up into two columns to hold out simultaneous assaults on the 2 villages, that are seven kilometres (4 miles) aside.
“There were up to 70 dead in Tchoma Bangou and 30 dead in Zaroumadareye,” Hassane advised the AFP information company, including he had simply returned from the scene of the assaults.
About 75 different folks have been injured with some requiring therapy within the capital, Niamey, and the city of Ouallam. The villages lie about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Niamey and are near the border with Mali.
The assault is believed to be in retaliation to the sooner killing of two fighters by villagers, after younger folks from the realm tried to kind a self-defense group.
The troubled Sahel area, which lies on the borders of Mali, Nigeria and Burkina Faso, is house to extremists teams who’ve pledged allegiance to al-Qaida and the “Islamic State” (IS) armed group.
Niger has seen an increase in assaults by these teams vying for territory and lots of of individuals have been killed over the previous 12 months.
Partial election outcomes
The newest atrocity comes because the West African nation counts the outcomes of an election held final week.
A partial tally of ballots introduced on Saturday put the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism within the lead however a runoff ballot in February shall be required after the nation’s ruling social gathering candidate didn’t safe sufficient votes within the first spherical.
Ruling social gathering candidate Mohamed Bazoum secured 39.6% of the vote, whereas opposition candidate Mahamane Ousmane received 16.9%.
Ousmane was Niger’s first democratically elected president till he was ousted in a coup in 1996. Bazoum is an ally of President Mahamadou Issoufou, who’s stepping down after two phrases.