RismadarVoice Reporters, April 3, 2026
At least 30 villagers were killed last week in a series of deadly raids in western Niger near the Nigerian border, the governor of the Tahoua region, Colonel Souleymane Amadou Moussa, announced Monday on state radio.
The assailants, whose identities remain unknown, carried out coordinated attacks on Thursday in three isolated villages in the mountainous Birni N’Koni department.
A resident of Zata, one of the affected villages, said the attackers were heavily armed and arrived on multiple motorbikes, looting at least 500 head of livestock before retreating toward Nigeria.
“Thirty martyrs fell, and at least 500 head of livestock were carried off,” Governor Moussa said, adding that the assailants withdrew into a neighbouring country where their rear base is located.
He also confirmed that the area is now under the control of security forces following the attacks.
The raids are part of a growing wave of violence in the region, which has become a hotspot for jihadist groups and armed bandits operating between Niger and Nigeria.
Tahoua is also a known crossroads for fuel, drugs, and counterfeit medicine smuggling.
Last week’s attacks followed earlier incidents, including an assault on a military drone base at Tahoua airport in early March, which left several soldiers wounded, and a checkpoint attack in the N’Koni department that killed a customs officer and three civilians.
Conflict monitoring group ACLED reports that the Islamic State in the Sahel has claimed several recent attacks in the area, particularly targeting Nigerien forces.
Despite large-scale military deployments, the junta ruling Niger since the 2023 coup has struggled to contain the escalating violence that has plagued western Niger since 2017.
In addition to threats from IS in the Sahel and the Al-Qaeda-affiliated JNIM in the west, the southeast of Niger continues to face attacks by Boko Haram and the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP), which are also active across the border in Nigeria.
