A water and forestry officer was killed in an attack overnight Sunday into Monday in southwestern Niger near Burkina Faso, and a woman died in the ensuing search operation, announced Monday evening by the Ministry of the Interior.
The attack targeted the mixed checkpoint between police, gendarmerie and the waters and forests of Say, a town located about fifty kilometres from Niamey and close to the border with Burkina Faso, the statement said.
It was carried out by “unidentified armed individuals” who came ” in a vehicle and several motorcycles” but “the prompt and vigorous reaction” of the Defense and Security Forces (FDS) “forced the enemy to beat in retirement”, assures the ministry.
The provisional report of the ministry mentions a non-commissioned officer of waters and forests killed during the attack.
A woman was found dead and another was “slightly injured” during the army’s “mopping up” operations, underlines the ministry which does not give details on the identity and the circumstances of their death. , but indicates that an “assailant” was also killed.
The ministry announces “the opening of an investigation” in order to “find and bring to justice the perpetrators of this criminal attack”.
Say, the capital of the department of the same name, is located in the vast region of Tillabéri and borders the W park straddling the borders between Niger, Burkina and Benin, a former tourist area, listed as a World Heritage Site. UNESCO since 1996, but now considered a high-risk area, advised against by Western chancelleries.
The northern part of Tillabéri is located in the “three borders” zone on the borders of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali.
In the southeast, near Nigeria and Lake Chad, jihadists from Boko Haram and ISWAP (Islamic State in West Africa) regularly commit attacks against civilians and kidnappings for ransom.
Finally, the border area between northern Benin and southern Niger, so far spared, has in turn faced the jihadist threat for several months.