Attack in Niger Kills 28, and Boko Haram Is Blamed

NIAMEY, Niger — An assault attributed to an Islamist militant group killed 28 folks and burned 800 properties in Niger’s Diffa area on Saturday, in accordance with Nigerien and United Nations officers.

Members of the group, Boko Haram, have been waging assaults within the area round Lake Chad since 2009, main some 250,000 folks to flee, in accordance with U.N. figures.

The newest assault focused the village of Toumour, lower than 12 miles from the border with Nigeria, over the weekend. the federal government stated in a press release.

Describing the 28 deaths, a authorities spokesman, Abdourahamane Zakaria, stated “10 were from gunshots, 14 by fire, four by drowning.” He stated 100 folks have been wounded.

Neither the federal government nor a U.N. assertion on the assault named the perpetrators, however the governor of Diffa, Issa Lemine, stated Sunday that Boko Haram was accountable.

Agence France-Presse reported that the group had claimed duty for the assault in a video despatched to the information company.

The Boko Haram insurgency erupted in northeastern Nigeria, however violence continuously spills over into Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

The bloodshed in Toumour is among the many worst the nation has suffered by the hands of the militants, Mr. Lemine stated on Sunday.

He described scenes of panic after the assault, which hit an space internet hosting 60,000 internally displaced individuals and refugees.

“It is an indescribable tragedy,” Mr. Lemine stated.