An armed attack has killed at least 31 civilians in a village in western Niger near the borders with Burkina Faso and Mali in a region rife with jihadist groups, local sources said Tuesday. The assailants struck on Sunday in a village lying in the Tillaberi region, located in the so-called tri-border area -- a flashpoint zone where the frontiers of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali converge. Jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have made the region a fiefdom, carrying out deadly attacks for nearly a decade. “On Sunday, armed individuals killed 31 of our residents in Bosiye; 30 died on the spot, and one of the five wounded succumbed at a health center,” a resident told AFP. The Tillaberi region became the “deadliest region across central Sahel” in 2025, according to Acled, an NGO that monitors conflicts.

Source: Dhaka Tribune January 21, 2026 12:19 UTC