Dozens killed in air strike on Niger-Nigeria border

At least 36 people were killed at a funeral ceremony when an
unidentified plane bombarded a village on the Niger-Nigeria border,
officials said.
Villages on both sides of the border are called Abadam, and there
was initially some confusion over which side of the border was hit.
Officials later on Wednesday said the attack happened in Niger.
“Yesterday… an unidentified plane dropped a bomb on the village
of Abadam-Niger… while the population was assembled near a
mosque,” Niger’s government said in statement read on state-
owned television.
“The provisional toll is 36 dead and 24 wounded.”
The government decreed three days of national mourning.
“Two planes flew over Abadam on Tuesday afternoon. For me,
with that very visible green colour, they were from Nigeria,”
Abadam’s deputy mayor Youram Ari told Niger television station
Labari.
A Nigerian military spokesman, however, denied involvement.
Air Commodore Dele Alonge told the AFP news agency: “It’s not
to my knowledge and there has not been any report from our
people of such an incident.”
An elected local leader in nearby Bosso said a similar air strike
several days ago on the nearby village of Gamgara killed one
person.
Abadam lies on the border about 13km southwest of Bosso, where
thousands of soldiers from Chad and Niger are massed in
preparation for operations against Boko Haram.
Niger is part of a joint regional force that is involved in ongoing
operations against the armed Nigerian group. Niger has committed
more than 700 troops to the regional force.
The border region has seen recent attacks and counter-attacks
between the regional forces and Boko Haram.