19 civilians killed in Niger attack

NIAMEY: Nineteen civilians were killed when armed men raided a village in west Niger close to the border with Mali, a local official told AFP on Sunday, in the latest bloodshed in the troubled region.

"For the moment, the number of dead stands at 19 and two people have been wounded in an attack by armed men on motorbikes in the village of Gaigorou" in the Tillaberi region on Saturday evening, said the municipal official from Dessa.

An unknown number of unidentified assailants, known locally as bandits, initially attacked people attending a funeral at a cemetery, before going on to the village where they "shot at everyone they saw", the official said.

The Tillaberi region is situated on the lawless "three-border" zone where the frontiers of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso converge and has regularly been the target of Jihadist groups affiliated to the Islamic State group.