Twenty civilians were massacred in Niger’s Tillaberi region when armed men intercepted a truck near Komabangou on Thursday, local sources confirmed. The victims were returning from Mehanna market when “armed bandits” halted their vehicle near a gold mine, forcing passengers to disembark.
According to witnesses, nineteen men were ordered to lie on the ground before being shot at point-blank range. The driver was also killed, and the truck was set ablaze. Two women were spared, and two passengers escaped, residents said, describing the attackers’ brutality as slaughter “like cattle.”
Local media and social networks carried similar accounts, with NigerScoop reporting that “around twenty people were killed” in the assault. Despite heavy military deployment, Tillaberi remains a hotspot for violence attributed to jihadist groups targeting civilians and soldiers alike.
The junta in Niamey, in power since a 2023 coup, has yet to comment on the killings. Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali — all military-led and allied under the Alliance of Sahel States (ESA) — have pledged to field a joint force of 5,000 troops against “terrorist groups.”
On the day of the attack, the three nations’ defence ministers met in Moscow, where Russia promised “comprehensive assistance to ensure stability in the region.”
In recent years, the Sahelian trio has expelled French and American forces once engaged in counter-insurgency operations, shifting their security alliances toward Moscow.
