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Niamey, Niger:
Six French residents and their native information and driver have been killed Sunday by gunmen using bikes in an space of southwestern Niger house to the final West African giraffes, officers mentioned.
It is believed to be the primary such assault on Westerners within the space, a preferred vacationer attraction within the former French colony because of its distinctive inhabitants of West African or Niger giraffes.
“There are eight dead: two Nigeriens including a guide and a driver, while the other six are French,” the governor of the Tillaberi area informed AFP.
“We are managing the situation, we will give more information later,” Tidjani Ibrahim Katiella mentioned, with out indicating who was behind the assault.
France’s presidency confirmed that French residents had been killed in Niger, with out giving the variety of useless.
A supply near Niger’s environmental companies mentioned the assault happened at round 11:30 am (1030 GMT) six kilometres (4 miles) east of the city of Koure, which is an hour’s drive from the capital Niamey.
“Most of the victims were shot… We found a magazine emptied of its cartridges at the scene,” the supply informed AFP.
“We do not know the identity of the attackers but they came on motorcycles through the bush and waited for the arrival” of the group.
The supply added that the victims’ automobile belonged to the French humanitarian organisation ACTED.
“Barbaric act”
The supply additionally described the scene of the assault, the place our bodies have been laid side-by-side subsequent to a torched automobile, which had bullet holes in its rear window.
In Paris, a spokesman for the French military mentioned France’s Barkhane drive, which fights jihadists within the Sahel area, had offered assist to Niger’s forces.
An AFP reporter on the scene of confirmed that French fighter jets flew overhead later Sunday as Niger’s military searched the huge wooded space.
Forensic police have been gathering samples forward of the our bodies being moved earlier than night time fell, the reporter added.
The workplace of French President Emmanuel Macron mentioned he spoke on the telephone together with his Niger counterpart Mahamadou Issoufou.
Neighbouring Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in the meantime strongly condemned the “barbaric act”.
He lamented that “violent extremism” was nonetheless rife within the Sahel area “despite the merciless war waged by national armies, the G5 Sahel joint forces and the Barkhane force”.
“Not considered dangerous”
Around 20 years in the past, a small herd of West African giraffes, a subspecies distinguished by its lighter color, discovered a secure haven from poachers and predators within the Koure space.
Today they quantity of their lots of and are a key vacationer attraction, having fun with the safety of native folks and conservation teams.
A Western humanitarian supply based mostly in Niamey mentioned “we all go to Koure on weekend outings because it’s very easy to access”.
“Everyone goes there, even ambassadors, diplomats, teachers… it is not considered a dangerous zone at all. There are NGOs protecting giraffes there,” the supply informed AFP.
However the Tillaberi area is in a massively unstable location, close to the borders of Mali and Burkina Faso.
The area has grow to be a hideout for Sahel jihadist teams such because the Islamic State within the Greater Sahara (ISGS).
The use of bikes has been completely banned since January in an try and curb the actions of such jihadists.
Numerous Europeans have been kidnapped or killed within the risky Sahel.
Two younger Frenchmen, Antoine De Leocour and Vincent Delory, have been killed after being kidnapped by jihadists from a restaurant in Niger’s capital Niamey in 2011.
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