Niger: what we know about the assassination of the humanitarian group in the Kouré reserve
Sylvie Claire / August 10, 2020
Eight people, two Nigeriens and six French, were killed on Sunday. The French national anti-terrorism prosecutor announced on Monday the opening of an investigation.
The attackers left no chance for their victims. Of the attack that took place Sunday, August 9, in the Kouré reserve, an hour's drive from the capital of Niger, Niamey, and targeted the passengers of a Land Cruiser from the French humanitarian organization Acted , no one came out alive.
In the all-terrain vehicle, passengers numbered eight, including six French, according to Nigerien defense minister Issoufou Katambé, quoted by Reuters, and two Nigeriens. The first was the driver of the Land Cruiser. The second, Kadri Abdou, was the president of the Association des guides de la Réserve de Kouré, where a group of very rare West African giraffes is located sixty kilometers from the capital. This association announced his death in a statement on Sunday and confirmed that six expatriates were also killed in an attack attributed by the organization to "a unit of terrorists ».
The French National Antiterrorist Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) also announced, on Monday August 10, the opening of an investigation "of the heads of assassinations in connection with a terrorist enterprise and criminal terrorist association". It was entrusted to the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) and the Counter-Terrorism Sub-Directorate (SDAT).
The attackers, still unidentified, were traveling on motorcycles in the reserve at the time of the events. In the hours following the attack - which took place late in the morning - the area was cordoned off to no avail. The men who killed the passengers in Acted's car may have passed out in the wild. No doubt they took the direction of the north. The bullet holes on the Toyota, visible in circulating photos, show that the vehicle was targeted from a short distance. Those who weren't killed by those first shots were killed later. A woman who escaped was caught, according to an on-site source, before having her throat cut. Several others were shot in the head.
their bodies remained near the vehicle, which was then set on fire.