Two villages in Niger were armedly attacked, killing and injuring a large number of civilians.

On January 2nd local time, Niger’s Interior Minister Kash Hadda said that two villages near the Niger-Mali border were attacked, killing at least 56 villagers by armed men.

According to Reuters, quoting unnamed Niger security personnel, armed men killed at least 70 villagers in two villages. At present, no organization has claimed to have launched the attack.