An attack by suspected jihadists has killed “dozens” of civilians in Niger in the latest massacre to plague the unrest-hit border with Burkina Faso and Mali, sources told AFP on Monday.

Along with its Sahel neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, Niger has been plagued by years of persistent jihadist unrest, as well as criminal gangs and sectarian and ethnic violence.

According to residents from the area, the fighters targeted Muslim worshippers heading to Friday prayers in the southwest village of Manda, in the borderlands where jihadists allied to Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group mount regular assaults.

“We estimate the number of deaths in this attack to be in the dozens,” a local told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Another resident said the “toll was heavy but we are waiting for the local authorities’ confirmation to give an accurate estimate”.

A security source from neighbouring Nigeria told AFP the attackers killed 71 people, blaming fighters who had pledged allegiance to IS.

According to the Nigerian source, no rescue mission was mounted by Niger’s defence and security forces.

“Very few villagers managed to escape by feigning death underneath the piles of corpses,” the source added.

One of the local sources however said the army was deployed around the village.

Niger’s authorities were yet to comment on the attack by Monday afternoon.

Like neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, Niger is led by a military junta which seized power in a coup, pledging to tackle the Sahel region’s long-running insecurity.

Yet none have managed to stem the jihadist tide, with the violence killing at least 2,400 people in Niger since the army overthrew democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum in July 2023, according to conflict monitor ACLED.

Similar civilian massacres after Friday prayers have in the past been claimed by IS-aligned groups active in the region.

According to Niger’s army, 34 soldiers died after several hundred armed fighters on Thursday stormed the village of Banibangou, in the northeast of the desert Tillaberi region bordering Mali.

Manda, where Friday’s attack took place, is also located in Tillaberi, where Niger’s army is pressing two significant anti-jihadist campaigns.

In the Tera department where Manda is located, 44 civilians were killed on March 21 while praying at a mosque in Fambita, an attack Niger’s interior ministry blamed on the IS.