TLTP
\nNIGER
\nGunmen have killed six French aid workers, a Nigerien guide and a driver in a wildlife park in Niger, according to officials in the West African country.
\nThe group was attacked on Sunday in a giraffe reserve near Koure, a town about 65km (40 miles) from the capital, Niamey. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
\n\u201cThey were intercepted and killed,\u201d Tidjani Ibrahim Katiella, the governor of Tillaberi region said.
\nThe six worked for an international aid group, Niger\u2019s Defence Minister Issoufou Katambe said. ACTED, an aid group, confirmed its staff members were targeted in the attack.
\nOfficials had earlier described the French nationals as tourists. The reserve is a popular attraction in Niger.
\nIn a statement, the Association of Koure Giraffe Reserve Guides described the attackers as a \u201cunit of terrorists\u201d and said the dead included its president, Kadri Abdou.
\nFrance\u2019s TF1 television channel, meanwhile, broadcast images that it said were taken from the scene showing the burnt-out remains of a 4×4 vehicle with bullet holes in the side.
\nFrench President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s office earlier confirmed French nationals had been killed in Niger, without providing any additional details. It said Macron spoke on the phone with Niger\u2019s President Mahamadou Issoufou.
\nFighters with links to al-Qaeda and the ISIL (ISIS) group have increasingly mounted attacks across West Africa\u2019s Sahel region in recent years despite the presence of thousands of regional and foreign troops.
\nThe violence has hit Mali and Burkina Faso the hardest, rendering large swaths of those countries ungovernable, but it has also spilled into Niger, which shares long and porous borders with its two neighbours.
\nFrance, a former colonial power in the region, has deployed thousands of troops in the arid region south of the Sahara desert since 2013 but violence has been on the rise. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TLTP NIGER Gunmen have killed six French aid workers, a Nigerien guide and a driver in a wildlife park in Niger, according to officials in the West African country. The group was attacked on Sunday in a giraffe reserve near Koure, a town about 65km (40 miles) from the capital, Niamey. There was no immediate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n