No fewer than 71 persons have been killed following an attack by suspected Islamic State fighters in the Greater Sahara (ISIS Sahel) on Manda village, in Garoul general area of Tillaberi Region, western Niger Republic.

Zagazola Makama gathered that the attack which occurred at about 8:00 p.m. (local time) on June 20, left scores dead, including four sons of the village head, while several houses were completely razed.

According to sources, the assailants stormed the community with heavy weapons, firing indiscriminately at residents and setting homes ablaze.

It was also gathered that no security personnel or elements of the Forces de Défense et de Sécurité (FDS) arrived at the village during or after the incident to intervene or conduct a rescue operation.

Eyewitness accounts said a few villagers who survived the massacre did so by pretending to be dead, hiding beneath the bodies of slain residents.

The motive behind the attack remains unclear, but Tillaberi Region has continued to suffer from increasing violence by extremist groups affiliated with ISIS and al-Qaeda, despite ongoing counter-terrorism efforts in the Sahel region. (Zagazola, excluding headline)