NIAMEY: Pakistan on Thursday condemned a militant attack in a convoy and a village in Niger that killed at least 58 people.
Monday’s attacks occurred in the Tillabery region which is near the border with Mali and Burkina Faso and has seen increasingly deadly attacks by militants active across the region with links to the so-called Islamic State and Al-Qaeda.
“Pakistan strongly condemns the terrorist attacks in [the] Tillaberi region of [the] Republic of Niger that resulted in [the] loss of so many precious lives,” the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement.
#Pakistan strongly condemns the terrorist attacks in #Tillaberi region of #Niger that resulted in loss of so many precious lives. We extend deepest sympathies & condolences to the bereaved families & pray for speedy recovery of the injured.
@PakinNiger
🔗https://t.co/PcFvF34rni— Spokesperson 🇵🇰 MoFA (@ForeignOfficePk) March 18, 2021
“The government and people of Pakistan extend their deepest sympathies and condolences to the bereaved families and pray for the speedy recovery of those injured,” it added.
The attacks echoed a January massacre that left 100 people dead in two villages also in the Tillaberi region that hadn’t been claimed by any extremist group or militia.
“Pakistan reiterates its unequivocal condemnation of terrorism in all forms and manifestations,” the FO statement said.
“We reaffirm our strong support and solidarity with the government and people of Niger in this moment of grief.”
The violence is part of a wider security crisis in West Africa’s Sahel region. Many of the militant attacks are concentrated where the borders of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso meet, a zone that a 5,000-strong French anti-militant task force has targeted heavily.
Extremists staged mass attacks on Niger’s military in the Tillaberi region, killing more than 70 in December 2019 and more than 89 in January 2020. It’s near the area where four US Special Forces soldiers were killed along with five Nigerien colleagues in 2017.
