Our bodies had been laid side-by-side subsequent to a torched off-road car, sources mentioned
Niamey, Niger:
Six French residents and their native information and driver had been killed Sunday by gunmen using bikes in an space of southwestern Niger dwelling to the final West African giraffes, officers mentioned.
It’s believed to be the primary such assault on Westerners within the space, a preferred vacationer attraction within the former French colony due to its distinctive inhabitants of West African or Niger giraffes.
“There are eight lifeless: two Nigeriens together with a information and a driver, whereas the opposite six are French,” the governor of the Tillaberi area advised AFP.
“We’re managing the state of affairs, we are going to give extra info later,” Tidjani Ibrahim Katiella mentioned, with out indicating who was behind the assault.
France’s presidency confirmed that French residents had been killed in Niger, with out giving the variety of lifeless.
A supply near Niger’s environmental companies mentioned the assault passed off at round 11:30 am (1030 GMT) six kilometres (4 miles) east of the city of Koure, which is an hour’s drive from the capital Niamey.
“Many of the victims had been shot… We discovered a magazine emptied of its cartridges on the scene,” the supply advised AFP.
“We have no idea the identification of the attackers however they got here on bikes via the bush and waited for the arrival” of the group.
The supply added that the victims’ car belonged to the French humanitarian organisation ACTED.
“Barbaric act”
The supply additionally described the scene of the assault, the place our bodies had been laid side-by-side subsequent to a torched car, which had bullet holes in its rear window.
In Paris, a spokesman for the French military mentioned France’s Barkhane power, which fights jihadists within the Sahel area, had offered assist to Niger’s forces.
An AFP reporter on the scene of confirmed that French fighter jets flew overhead later Sunday as Niger’s military searched the huge wooded space.
Forensic police had been accumulating samples forward of the our bodies being moved earlier than night time fell, the reporter added.
The workplace of French President Emmanuel Macron mentioned he spoke on the cellphone together with his Niger counterpart Mahamadou Issoufou.
Neighbouring Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in the meantime strongly condemned the “barbaric act”.
He lamented that “violent extremism” was nonetheless rife within the Sahel area “regardless of the cruel battle waged by nationwide armies, the G5 Sahel joint forces and the Barkhane power”.
“Not thought of harmful”
Round 20 years in the past, a small herd of West African giraffes, a subspecies distinguished by its lighter color, discovered a secure haven from poachers and predators within the Koure space.
Right this moment they quantity of their lots of and are a key vacationer attraction, having fun with the safety of native individuals and conservation teams.
A Western humanitarian supply primarily based in Niamey mentioned “all of us go to Koure on weekend outings as a result of it is very simple to entry”.
“Everybody goes there, even ambassadors, diplomats, lecturers… it’s not thought of a harmful zone in any respect. There are NGOs defending giraffes there,” the supply advised AFP.
Nonetheless the Tillaberi area is in a massively unstable location, close to the borders of Mali and Burkina Faso.
The area has grow to be a hideout for Sahel jihadist teams such because the Islamic State within the Higher Sahara (ISGS).
Using bikes has been completely banned since January in an try to curb the actions of such jihadists.
Quite a few Europeans have been kidnapped or killed within the risky Sahel.
Two younger Frenchmen, Antoine De Leocour and Vincent Delory, had been killed after being kidnapped by jihadists from a restaurant in Niger’s capital Niamey in 2011.
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