Niger: French Army Claims to Have Killed Suspect in 2020 Murders of Aid Workers in Niger

The French army says that it has killed one of the suspects in last year’s murder of eight people including six young French aid workers in the Koure National Park in Niger,

The Islamic State armed group had claimed the killings last August of the six aid workers aged between 25 and 31 and their two local guides while they were visiting a nature reserve in the West African country.

The army identified the killed jihadist as Soumana Boura, one of the bosses of the so-called Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS).

General staff spokesman Colonel Pascal Ianni told French news agency AFP that Boura had filmed the execution of the eight victims in August and overseen the publication of the footage.

The six French humanitarian workers, their guide and their driver were killed on the 9th of August in the Koure National Park, a wildlife haven 60 kilometres from Niger’s capital Niamey.

Boura, who headed a group of dozens of fighters in western Niger, was killed by a French drone strike Monday as he was riding his motorcycle, he said.

A French unit was on its way to secure the area and formally identify him, the army said.

ISGS boss Adnan Abou Walid al-Sahraoui, who France believes ordered the execution of the aid workers, was killed in August by French soldiers.

Eleven other people implicated in the murders were arrested in Niger in recent months.

By RFI website.