Seven children died and five were injured in a mistake in an airstrike by the Nigerian army last Friday (18) in the Maradi region of southern Niger, close to the Nigerian border, AFP told AFP on Sunday (20). the governor of the region.
“There was a mistake in the Nigerian border attacks [com o NÃger] that caused victims in our territory in the village of Nachadé: the victims were 12 children, of whom 7 died and 5 were injured”, explained Chaïbou Aboubacar, governor of the Maradi region.
Four children died instantly and three more succumbed to their injuries as they were transported to hospital.
According to the governor, “the parents were participating in a ceremony and the children were probably playing when the bombing took place.”
Aboubacar believes the attack targeted armed bandits who work in the border areas, but “it ended up reaching Nachadé”.
He claims he went to the village, located in the Madaroumfa region, on Saturday to pay condolences to the authorities and local residents. He also visited the graves of the dead children and the bombing site.
Several municipalities in the Maradi region are affected by the violence of heavily armed gangs.
In 2018, Niger reinforced military patrols along its border with Nigeria to prevent incursions by these gangs. who carry out targeted killings, kidnappings for ransom, raids on traders and cattle theft.
In April 2021, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said it feared the emergence of a new cradle of jihadist terrorism in this region, as extremist groups could exploit local conflicts to establish influence.
Niger already faces two jihadist fronts: in the southeast, also close to Nigeria, are the Nigerian group Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa, its dissident arm; in the west, near Mali, there are groups affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) and Al-Qaeda.
According to the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), the Maradi region is home to 100,000 Nigerian refugees, who fled the attacks in their country.
In mid-February 2015, 36 people died and another 27 were injured in a plane bombing a mosque in the village of Abadam, in the Diffa region (southeast), where Boko Haram jihadists carried out their first attacks against Niger. .
