Niger: at least 37 civilians killed in an ambush by “armed men”

At least 37 civilians were killed Thursday, November 12 in an ambush set up by unidentified “armed men,” near Téra, in western Niger, close to Burkina Faso and Mali, AFP learned Friday from local sources.

Niger, led by a junta since a coup d'état in 2023, is facing violence from jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group which have left thousands dead in this Sahelian country for more than a decade. Thursday morning, an attack targeted residents of the village of Tillim, who were going to the weekly fair in Téra, a town and department of the same name located in the Tillabéri region (west), according to a former local elected official.

Escorted by elements of a local self-defense group, they “fell into an ambush by unidentified armed men,” he told AFP. “37 people were killed immediately and this morning (Friday), another person died from their injuries, making a total of 38 dead,” according to the same source. “Among the dead are 11 members of the self-defense group, 7 women and 20 men,” said the elected official.

According to a resident of the town of Téra, the attack left “37 dead, including women and children.” “There were several injured people who were taken to Téra hospital,” adds the same source. The Tillabéri region, in western Niger, on the border of Mali and Burkina Faso, has become in a decade the epicenter of jihadist attacks. In 2025, this vast area has even become “the deadliest region in the central Sahel” where “civilians have been the most targeted”, according to the NGO Acled, which lists victims of conflicts around the world.