Bewaffnete Männer töten 22, nachdem er bei der Taufe in Niger geschossen hatte

SS: Gunmen on motorbikes killed 22 people in western Niger, most of them attending a baptism ceremony, in the latest sign of spiraling jihadist violence in the Sahel. The Tillabéri region, bordering Mali and Burkina Faso, has seen escalating attacks by groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIS, with Human Rights Watch reporting over 127 villagers killed since March. Despite forming an anti-jihadist alliance and expelling French and US forces in favor of Russian and Turkish support, Niger’s military junta, like its neighbors in Mali and Burkina Faso, has failed to stem the violence. The massacre highlights both the weakness of state security capacity and the broader regional struggle as military regimes pursue new foreign alignments while citizens remain vulnerable to insurgent attacks.