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Suspected jihadists attacked a bus and a truck in Niger, killing 21 people in the southwestern Tillaberi region near Burkina Faso, local and security sources said on Thursday.
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“A terrorist attack on Wednesday afternoon by heavily armed men travelling on motorcycles and in a vehicle killed 19 people travelling in a bus, including two police officers,” a security source said.
“Two others were killed in an attack on a truck,” added the source, who asked to remain anonymous. They had burned to death when the truck was set on fire.
Five people including a policeman were wounded in the attack on the bus, which was also torched. They were taken to the capital, Niamey, for treatment, the source said.
Seven passengers — four women and three men — managed to escape from the bus.
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The attack occurred near the Petelkole border post, 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border with Burkina, a local official said.
In October 2021, three police officers were killed and several others wounded in a suspected jihadist attack on the Petelkole border post.
Tillaberi is located in the flashpoint “three borders” zone of Niger, Burkina and Mali, where jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara operates.
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