s "targeted civilians" in Banibangou — near the jihadist-plagued tri-border region spanning Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other...
Armed men killed 14 civilians in an attack on a village in western Niger, the government said on Monday.
The area near Niger's restive border with Mali is prone to jihadist attacks.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE ATTACK
The attack took place on Sunday when shooters "targeted civilians, killing 14, including nine working in fields," the Interior Ministry said, adding that one person was maimed.
Gunmen on motorbikes shot up around 3 p.m. in a village in the Banibangou district, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the border with Mali, according to the ministry.
An investigation was underway to bring trial those responsible for "these cowardly and barbaric attacks," the ministry said.
VIOLENCE PLAGUES TRI-BORDER REGION
Banibangou is located in what is known as the three-borders region, between Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali.
For years, the area has been the center of deadly attacks by jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group.
Similar attacks have repeatedly occurred in the region despite security efforts by authorities. Gunmen on motorbikes flee across the border into Mali after their raids.
An attack by suspected jihadists in the same district left 66 people dead in March.
Last month, 19 people were killed in an attack on villages in Tondikiwindi, in a neighboring district.
Some 1,200 Chadian soldiers are deployed in the three-borders region by the G5 Sahel group — Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.