At least 70 civilians have been killed in simultaneous attacks on two villages by suspected Islamic militants in Niger, near the border with Mali, security sources said.
About 49 villagers were killed and 17 people wounded in the village of Tchombangou, one of the security sources said on Saturday requesting anonymity.
A second source, a senior official in Niger’s Interior Ministry, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said about 30 other villagers in the village of Zaroumdareye had been killed.
Niger’s government was not immediately available for comment.
Niger has previously suffered attacks by Islamic militants linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State. Attacks near the western border with Mali and Burkina Faso, and the southeastern border with Nigeria, killed hundreds of people last year.