50,000 flee Niger town after B/Haram attacks

About 50,000 people have fled a town in Niger’s troubled southeast after deadly attacks by Boko Haram insurgents, the United Nations said Tuesday. The attacks began Friday against a military post in Bosso in Niger’s Diffa region, killing 26 soldiers including two from neighbouring Nigeria. “An estimated 50,000 people or so fled,” UN refugee agency […]

About 50,000 people have fled a town in Niger’s troubled southeast after deadly attacks by Boko Haram insurgents, the United Nations said Tuesday.
The attacks began Friday against a military post in Bosso in Niger’s Diffa region, killing 26 soldiers including two from neighbouring Nigeria.
“An estimated 50,000 people or so fled,” UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesman Adrian Edwards told reporters in Geneva.
A total of 55 insurgents from the Nigeria-based Islamist group were killed and “many” injured, according to authorities.
Edwards said most of those fleeing the violence walked westwards to Toumour, some 30 kilometres west of Bosso.
“Many people are reportedly traumatised and worried about their safety. People are sleeping in the open and urgently need shelter and other assistance,” he said.
A local journalist working with Radio Anfani told AFP he was sheltering in Toumour with no food, along with many others who fled the violence.
However, Niger’s defence minister Assoumana Malam Issa has said that the military had regained control Bosso.