| Tillia massacres | |
| Location: | Intazayane, Bakorat, Wirsnat, Akofafof, Tillia, Tahoua Region, Niger |
| Date: | 21 March 2021 |
| Partof: | the jihadist insurgency in Niger |
| Fatalities: | 141 |
| Injuries: | Unknown |
| Perpetrator: | Islamic State in the Greater Sahara[1] [2] |
On 21 March 2021, armed jihadists from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara attacked the villages of Intazayane, Bakorat, Wirsnat, and several other hamlets and camps around Tillia, Tahoua Region, Niger. The attacks killed 141 people, mostly civilians, and injured several others.[3]
In 2020, the French army launched a large offensive on the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, which came at the same time as a large offensive by Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) in the tri-border area between Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. The offensives inflicted heavy losses on ISGS, and the group seemed weakened. At the start of 2021 with the Tchoma Bangou and Zaroumdareye massacres, ISGS began killing civilians en masse in western Niger in several attacks, and also began attacking Mali and Burkina Faso.[4]
On 15 March, a week before the massacres in Tillia, ISGS fighters killed 66 people in Darey-Daye and Chinagodrar, in the neighboring Tillabéri Region.[5]
The attacks began at around 12:00 p.m. GMT, when armed ISGS fighters rode up in the towns on motorcycles and shot indiscriminately at "anything that moved", according to an anonymous local elected official.[6] The jihadists also torched camps in Akofafof that housed refugees, including women and children.[7] [8] The main victims of the massacres were Tuaregs.[9]
While the attack was not claimed, the perpetrators are suspected to be the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara. France 24 journalist Wassim Nasr reiterated that ISGS conducted the attack, and stated that the massacres were reprisals for the civilians in those villages not paying zakat to ISGS. Nasr also stated that the villagers were more sympathetic to JNIM, and that there had been a spate of assassinations against pro-JNIM civilians in the area prior to the attack.[10]
The Nigerien government stated that 137 civilians were killed, making it the deadliest jihadist attack in Niger's history.[11] This death toll rose to 141 by June 2022.[12] At least 22 of the dead were children aged 5 to 17.[13] Nigerien president Mohamed Bazoum announced three days of national mourning for the victims of the attack, and also vowed that the government would reinforce security in the region.[14]
The attacks were condemned by the United States,[15] African Union,[16] the UN Secretary General António Guterres,[17] Turkey,[18] India,[19] and Algeria.[20] They were also condemned by the International Rescue Committee.[21]