Nigerien authorities said that Boko Haram militants killed 18 people, including a local religious leader, in an attack on a village in the nation’s southern border area of Diffa .
Justice Minister, Marou Amadou, who disclosed this in a statement said “Boko Haram has once again sent us into mourning.
“Eighteen villagers were killed, including the Chief Imam of the village whose throat was slit by his own nephew,” he said.
Amadou said eleven people were injured and a three-year-old girl was abducted, adding that the army was pursuing the “terrorists in all nooks and crannies of Lake Chad”.
According to him, the gunmen stormed the village of Gogone near the shores of Lake Chad on foot and fired indiscriminately on residents.
The Diffa region had suffered dozens of cross-border strikes since January by the extremist group whose stronghold in North-East Nigeria lies a few kilometres away.
A state of emergency has been declared there in a bid to boost security, but the attackers often manage to flee across the River Komadougou, marking the border with Nigeria.
Meanwhile, Central African leaders at a regional bloc conference on Wednesday said they were raising 50 billion CFA Francs ($80 million) to help Niger, Chad and Cameroon fight the militant group.
