And Niger’s president just freed nine jihadis from prison. What could possibly go wrong?
“18 civilians feared killed near Niger’s border with Mali,” AFP, February 22, 2022 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
Eighteen civilians have been killed in two suspected jihadist attacks in the west of Niger near the Sahel nation’s border with Mali, the government said Tuesday.
The attack happened on Sunday when unidentified “armed bandits” on motorbikes attacked a truck travelling between villages in the Tillaberi region, which lies in a flashpoint zone where the frontiers of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali converge, it said.
The interior ministry, in a statement, said “the provisional toll of the attack is 18 people killed, eight injured” with five of those injured admitted to hospital in serious condition.
The truck was then set on fire, the ministry said, adding that a search was underway to find the attackers.
A local resident confirmed the death toll saying that 14 were killed in the attack on the truck.
“Three people who surprised the attackers in a hiding place in the bush, then another person in the attack on the village of Tizigorou”, the individual told AFP, claiming to have lost “a nephew” in the attacks.
A local lawmaker, who gave a far lower toll earlier in the day, said that the vehicle targeted by the attackers had been returning from Niger’s capital Niamey on Sunday afternoon carrying passengers from four local villages as well as their cargo.
Witnesses reported that the attackers “killed nearly all of the men onboard, before taking their supplies and burning the truck,” the lawmaker said….
gravenimage says
Niger: Muslims murder 18 civilians in ambush on truck
…………
Horrifying–the Jihad in Africa continues.
Relic says
Niger is 99.3% islam
gravenimage says
Yes–but is anywhere *ever* Islamic enough for the most pious Muslims?
abu taleb says
Actually, it is not about “Islamic enough” or not. It is about getting the power over its people, Islam is used as a tool by accusing other muslims not Islamic enough.
The struggle for power in Islam had begun right after Muhammad died among Muhammad’s family members (and best friends). It shows that Islam is not about becoming a good person, but about how to pursue the worldly things like power, money, sex.
gravenimage says
It’s both. This is as you note a power struggle, since elections are deemed un-Islamic. But there is indeed a constant struggle in Islam to have purer and purer Islam–and to oust those not considered Islamic enough.