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Niger declares national mourning, security boost after attacks
ABIDJAN, Jan 5, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Niger on Monday declared three days of mourning and vowed to beef up security in a western border region where jihadists killed 100 villagers, according to a local toll.
“We have decreed three days of national mourning, and on security, we are going to strengthen the presence” in the frontier region with Mali, Interior Minister Alkache Alhada told AFP, adding that the government would also launch “forums” to defuse ethnic tension.
Scores of “terrorists,” arriving by motorbike, killed 70 people in the village of Tchoma Bangou and 30 in Zaroumadareye, local mayor Almou Hassane told AFP on Sunday.
BSS/AFP/MMA/0800HRS