Niamey (Niger): More than 20 children have died and dozens have been injured after a fire broke out at a school in Maradi, the second-largest city in Niger, West Africa. The government said late on Monday that three classrooms in a primary school named AFN came under fire, killing children between the ages of three and eight. The classrooms were made of thatch. The National Education Department has confirmed that an investigation has been launched to find out the cause of the fire and it will also be seen from where the fire started. In Niger, West Africa, temporary classrooms are built-in schools full of students.
In April this year, 20 children were killed in a fire at a primary school on the outskirts of Niger’s capital, Niamey. Teachers and parents have said that such incidents show how dangerous temporary classrooms are. UNICEF representative in Niger, Stefana Savi, said in a statement: “Our thoughts are with the affected children and families. We extend our condolences to the families of the victims and their communities.
Niger is battling terrorism
The militants operating in the so-called tribal region between Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali are mostly linked to al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group. Terrorist attacks have taken place in the area several times even after the security has been beefed up by the authorities. After the shootout, the attackers fled towards Mali. In August this year, 37 civilians, including 14 children, were killed by armed men in an attack on a village in southwest Niger. Officials had said that this year alone, terrorists have killed hundreds of civilians in the same area. Unidentified assailants opened fire on Monday in the commune of Banibango in the Tiberi region, near the border with Mali’s Niger. A local official told the AFP news agency that as people were working in the fields in the afternoon, the attackers “arrived on motorbikes to Dere-de village.” A local journalist told AFP: “They found people in the fields and some Shot too while moving.
Emergency has been imposed in the southwest region of Niger since the year 2017
A state of emergency has been in force in the southwest region of Niger since 2017 due to violence and civil war. Thousands of civilians have been killed in continuous violent incidents here and thousands have fled from here. According to a report released last week by Human Rights Watch (HRW), at least 420 civilians were killed in jihadist attacks this year in Tilberi and the neighboring region of Tahoua. “Armed Islamist groups are attacking civilians in western Niger,” Corinne Dufka, assistant director of the international rights group, said in the report.
