Tillia massacres

Last updated

Tillia massacres
Part of the jihadist insurgency in Niger
LocationIntazayane, Bakorat, Wirsnat, Akofafof, Tillia, Tahoua Region, Niger
Date21 March 2021
Deaths141
InjuredUnknown
PerpetratorIslamic State flag.svg Islamic State in the Greater Sahara [1] [2]

On 21 March 2021, armed jihadists from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara attacked the villages of Intazayane, Bakorat, Wirsnat, and several other hamlets and camps around Tillia, Tahoua Region, Niger. The attacks killed 141 people, mostly civilians, and injured several others. [3]

Contents

Background

In 2020, the French army launched a large offensive on the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, which came at the same time as a large offensive by Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) in the tri-border area between Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. The offensives inflicted heavy losses on ISGS, and the group seemed weakened. At the start of 2021 with the Tchoma Bangou and Zaroumdareye massacres, ISGS began killing civilians en masse in western Niger in several attacks, and also began attacking Mali and Burkina Faso. [4]

On 15 March, a week before the massacres in Tillia, ISGS fighters killed 66 people in Darey-Daye and Chinagodrar, in the neighboring Tillabéri Region. [5]

Attacks

The attacks began at around 12:00 p.m. GMT, when armed ISGS fighters rode up in the towns on motorcycles and shot indiscriminately at "anything that moved", according to an anonymous local elected official. [6] The jihadists also torched camps in Akofafof that housed refugees, including women and children. [7] [8] The main victims of the massacres were Tuaregs. [9]

While the attack was not claimed, the perpetrators are suspected to be the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara. [9] France 24 journalist Wassim Nasr reiterated that ISGS conducted the attack, and stated that the massacres were reprisals for the civilians in those villages not paying zakat to ISGS. Nasr also stated that the villagers were more sympathetic to JNIM, and that there had been a spate of assassinations against pro-JNIM civilians in the area prior to the attack. [4] [10]

Aftermath

The Nigerien government stated that 137 civilians were killed, making it the deadliest jihadist attack in Niger's history. [11] This death toll rose to 141 by June 2022. [12] At least 22 of the dead were children aged 5 to 17. [13] Nigerien president Mohamed Bazoum announced three days of national mourning for the victims of the attack, and also vowed that the government would reinforce security in the region. [14]

The attacks were condemned by the United States, [15] African Union, [16] the UN Secretary General António Guterres, [17] Turkey, [18] India, [19] and Algeria. [20] They were also condemned by the International Rescue Committee. [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic State – Sahil Province</span> Islamic State affiliate

The Islamic State – Sahel Province (ISSP), formerly known as Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (IS-GS), is an Islamist militant group adhering to the ideology of Salafi Jihadism. IS-GS was formed on 15 May 2015 as the result of a split within the militant group Al-Mourabitoun. The rift was a reaction to the adherence of one of its leaders, Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahraoui, to the Islamic State. From March 2019 to 2022, IS-GS was formally part of the Islamic State – West Africa Province (ISWAP); when it was also called "ISWAP-Greater Sahara". In March 2022, IS declared the province autonomous, separating it from its West Africa Province and naming it Islamic State – Sahil Province (ISSP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kouré shooting</span> Part of the Islamist insurgency in the Sahel

The Kouré shooting was a mass shooting that occurred in Niger on 9 August 2020. The attack left at least 8 civilians dead, six French and two Nigeriens. The attack took place in Kouré, a rural community in Tillabéri Region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jihadist insurgency in Niger</span> Civil conflict in Niger

Since 2015, the border area between Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger has been a hotbed for jihadist forces originating from Mali. The insurgency has taken place in two distinct regions of Niger. In southwest, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara and the Nusrat al-Islam have carried out attacks in the tri-border area with Burkina Faso and Mali. Meanwhile, in the southeast, the Islamic State in the West African Province has established control in parts of southern Niger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamist insurgency in the Sahel</span> Insurgency throughout the Sahel and West Africa

An Islamist insurgency has been ongoing in the Sahel region of West Africa since the 2011 Arab Spring. In particular, the intensive conflict in the three countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso has been referred to as the Sahel War.

The Battle of Talataye took place between 6 and 7 September 2022 during the Menaka offensives of the Mali War. During the battle, militants from Islamic State in the Greater Sahara stormed Talataye, Mali, looting and burning the town. The following day, ISGS abandoned Talataye.

On November 18, 2019, Malian troops were ambushed by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara during a patrol of Tabankort, in Ménaka Cercle, Mali.

The Ménaka offensive was a series of offensives launched by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara against the Malian Army, Tuareg self-defense groups including the Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA) and Imghad Tuareg Self-Defense Group and Allies (GATIA), and the al-Qaeda-aligned Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin. The offensives took place in the Ménaka Cercle, in southeastern Mali.

The Tazalit attack, also known as the Tazalit massacre, occurred on October 6, 2016, when unknown jihadists attacked Nigerien forces at the Tazalit refugee camp in Niger, killing dozens of Nigerien soldiers. The attack was the deadliest attack on Nigerien forces so far during the jihadist insurgency in Niger.

On November 8, 2016 Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) fighters attacked Nigerien forces in Bani-Bangou, Tillabéri Region, Niger.

On February 22, 2017, jihadists from Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) attacked Nigerien forces in Tilwa, Ouallam Department, Niger.

On March 6, 2017, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) militants attacked Nigerien forces between Wanzarbe and Yatakala, Niger.

On July 5, 2017, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) attacked Nigerien forces near Midal, Niger. The attack was the first claimed by JNIM in Niger.

The JNIM-ISGS war is an ongoing armed conflict between Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) and the Islamic State – Sahil Province (ISGS), the Sahelian branches of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State respectively, and, to some extent, Islamic State – Algeria Province (ISAP). Since ISGS' formation in October 2016 and the creation of the JNIM coalition in 2017, the two groups had been described as the Sahelien exception or Sahelien anomaly: despite the global war between al-Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates since the latter's splinter from the former in 2014, both ISGS and JNIM have ignored each other and in rare cases worked together against Malian, Nigerien, Burkinabe, French, and international governments and non-Islamist militias until 2020.

On May 14, 2019, jihadists from Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) attacked Nigerien forces in Baley Beri, Niger, killing twenty-seven Nigerien soldiers.

On July 1, 2019 Islamic State in the Greater Sahara militants attacked the mining town of Inates, Tillabéri Region, Niger, killing eighteen Nigerien soldiers.

On July 31, 2021, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin ambushed Nigerien forces near Torodi, Tillabéri Region, Niger, killing 18 Nigerien soldiers.

On March 15, 2021, jihadists from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara attacked the village of Darey-Daye, Tillabéri Region, Niger, killing sixty-six civilians. The attack occurred two months after the Tchoma Bangou and Zaroumdareye massacres, the deadliest attacks on civilians by ISGS in Niger.

On February 10, 2023, militants from Islamic State in the Greater Sahara ambushed Nigerien soldiers at Intagamey, Niger, killing at least seventeen people.

On April 17, 2021, Fulani militants from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) attacked the Zarma village of Gaigorou in Tillabéri Region, Niger, killing nineteen civilians. The massacre was part of a series of massacres on Zarma areas by ISGS since the beginning of 2021.

On August 15, 2023, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) ambushed Nigerien soldiers near Koutougou, a village on the border between Niger and Mali. The ambush killed at least seventeen Nigerien soldiers, and was the first major attack by a jihadist group on Nigerien forces since the 2023 Nigerien coup d'état.

References

  1. ↑ Nsaibia, Héni; Duhamel, Jules (17 June 2021). "Sahel 2021: Communal Wars, Broken Ceasefires, and Shifting Frontlines". ACLED. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  2. ↑ "Killing of at least 137 civilians in Tahoua Region on March 21 highlights role of ethnicity, communal conflicts in ongoing insurgency – Niger Analysis". Max Security. 25 March 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  3. ↑ "Gunmen on motorbikes raid Niger villages, kill at least 137". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Massacres au Niger: peut-on éviter une guerre sans fin?". La Vie.fr (in French). 25 March 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  5. ↑ "Niger: 58 dead in 'barbarous' attack – DW – 03/17/2021". dw.com. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  6. ↑ "Au Niger, les journées de deuil national s'enchaînent" (in French). 24 March 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  7. ↑ "Niger : les attaques de dimanche ont fait au moins 137 morts, selon le gouvernement". France 24 (in French). 22 March 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  8. ↑ "Niger: 137 morts dans une attaque à Tillia au nord-ouest du pays". RFI (in French). 22 March 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  9. 1 2 Macé, Célian. "Au Niger, l'escalade macabre de l'Etat islamique". Libération (in French). Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  10. ↑ Niger : 137 civils assassinés, est-ce un retour en force de l’OEI ?. 23 March 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2024– via YouTube.
  11. ↑ "Niger hit by deadliest 'jihadist' raids". BBC News. 23 March 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  12. ↑ "Au coeur du Sahel, l'Etat islamique s'étend, les massacres se succèdent". Challenges (in French). 17 June 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  13. ↑ "Niger: attacks on children and families must stop, once and for all". UNICEF UK. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  14. ↑ "137 killed in deadly attacks on Niger villages". Daily Sabah. 23 March 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  15. ↑ "Terrorist Attacks in Niger". United States Department of State. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  16. ↑ "Niger: AU worries about recurrent terrorist attacks". APAnews – African Press Agency. 24 March 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  17. ↑ "Secretary-General Strongly Condemns Killing of 137 People in Latest Niger Attack, Calling upon Authorities to Enhance Civilian Protection". press.un.org. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  18. ↑ "Turkey strongly condemns Niger terrorist attacks". Daily Sabah. 22 March 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  19. ↑ "India strongly condemns terror attacks in Niger – News Live". 25 March 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  20. ↑ "Algeria condemns terrorist attacks in West of Niger – Embassy of Algeria in Sofia" . Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  21. ↑ "The IRC condemns the multiple attacks against civilians in Niger that have killed over 200 people in just ten days". www.rescue.org. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.