Overview

• The attack occurred Monday in Takoubatt, where motorbike gunmen opened fire on a baptism ceremony before killing more people on the village outskirts.
• An area resident told AFP that 15 victims were shot at the ceremony and seven others were killed nearby.
• The violence struck a region along the Burkina Faso and Mali frontiers where affiliates of the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda operate.
• Human Rights Watch urged authorities to do more to protect civilians and estimates at least 127 people were summarily executed in five Tillaberi attacks since March.
• Conflict-tracking group ACLED counts roughly 1,800 people killed in attacks in Niger since October 2024, with about three-quarters of the deaths in Tillaberi, and local reports say around 20 soldiers died there last week.