Niger: Three Dead In Attack Of Police Station On Burkinabe Border

Nigerian Minister of the Interior Mohamed Bazoum in Bosso, June 17, 2016. 

Two Nigerian policemen and one civilian were killed Saturday night in an attack on a police station in the Tillaberi region near the Burkina Faso border, the Interior Ministry said on Sunday. Three policemen were also injured.


According to RFI information, the attackers came to motorcycles. Five motorcycles, according to the prefect of the department of Tera. They attacked the border crossing at Petl-Kole on the Nigerian side, took with them the arms and ammunition and burned it. They then fled to the north, towards Mali.

According to the perfect, the civilian who died is of Ivorian nationality. " No doubt a migrant who was at the post for an identity check and who was going to be turned back. Was he coming from Libya or was he going there? We do not know, as we do not know the exact circumstances of his death. " According to Mohamed Bazoum, the Nigerian Minister of the Interior, there is little doubt: it is an " attack by jihadists seeking weapons. "

This is the first time that the Niamey-Tera-Dori-Ouagadougou axis has been attacked, which is likely to cause problems since the road that connects Niamey directly to Ouagadougou is very damaged. It is already considered less safe because of recurring attacks by road cutters. Drivers and truckers, therefore, preferred to go through Tera to Niger and Dori to Burkina.

In January, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso decided to create a tripartite force on their common border, but it is not yet operational.

Police killed in northern Burkina Faso

And a retired policeman was killed Saturday night by armed individuals at his home in Djibo, in the far north of Burkina Faso, it was learned on Monday. His wife was wounded. A source at the Ministry of the Interior confirms this but refuses to specify for the moment whether it is a terrorist attack or a settlement of the account.