Niger

At least 26 children aged between five and six burnt to death on Monday when their straw and wood classrooms caught fire in southern Niger, seven months after a similar tragedy in the capital Niamey.

Gunmen seized 136 children from an Islamic seminary in central Nigeria at the weekend, the state government said, the latest in a string of such incidents plaguing Africa's most populous nation.

Gunmen on Sunday kidnapped scores of children from an Islamic seminary in central Nigeria's Niger state, police and residents said.

More than 150 people were missing and feared drowned in northwest Nigeria on Wednesday after an overloaded boat ferrying passengers to a market sank in the Niger River, local officials said.

The boat ferrying 100 local traders split into two after hitting a stump during a windstorm as they were returning from a market on Saturday. Thirty people drowned when the boat capsized in central Nigeria's Niger state.

Fifty-eight people have been killed in "barbarous" attacks on a bus and nearby villages in Niger close to the country's border with Mali, the government said on Tuesday.

The villages were waged by "terrorists who came riding about 100 motorcycles," said Almou Hassane, the mayor of the Tondikiwindi commune that administers both villages.

India on Sunday strongly hit out at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), accusing it of making "factually incorrect and unwarranted" references to Jammu and Kashmir in resolutions adopted by the grouping at a meeting in Niger, and asserted that the union territory is an integral and inalienable part of the country.

French President Emmanuel Macron late Sunday denounced a 'cowardly" attack on humanitarian workers in Niger and said he would do everything to shed light on the incident in which eight people died.

Eight people, including employees of a French aid group, were killed Sunday by gunmen riding motorcycles in an area of Niger that is home to the last West African giraffes, officials said.

A massive sandstorm swept over the capital of Niger, Niamey, on Monday.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou on Tuesday jointly inaugurated the first convention centre established in Africa by India to honour the memory of Mahatma Gandhi.

Heavily armed assailants stormed a military base in Niger on Thursday killing 25 people and leading to fierce clashes that killed 63 "terrorists", the defence ministry said, in an area where dozens died in a previous jihadist attack.

Hundreds of terrorists attacked a Niger military camp near the border with Mali with shelling and mortars, killing 71 soldiers, the defence ministry said Wednesday.

Niger on Saturday ordered the closure of the offices of the country's biggest telecoms operator Airtel, a subsidiary of the Bharti Airtel group, for unpaid taxes of 107 million dollars.

At least 26 children aged between five and six burnt to death on Monday when their straw and wood classrooms caught fire in southern Niger, seven months after a similar tragedy in the capital Niamey.

Gunmen seized 136 children from an Islamic seminary in central Nigeria at the weekend, the state government said, the latest in a string of such incidents plaguing Africa's most populous nation.

Gunmen on Sunday kidnapped scores of children from an Islamic seminary in central Nigeria's Niger state, police and residents said.

More than 150 people were missing and feared drowned in northwest Nigeria on Wednesday after an overloaded boat ferrying passengers to a market sank in the Niger River, local officials said.

The boat ferrying 100 local traders split into two after hitting a stump during a windstorm as they were returning from a market on Saturday. Thirty people drowned when the boat capsized in central Nigeria's Niger state.

Fifty-eight people have been killed in "barbarous" attacks on a bus and nearby villages in Niger close to the country's border with Mali, the government said on Tuesday.

The villages were waged by "terrorists who came riding about 100 motorcycles," said Almou Hassane, the mayor of the Tondikiwindi commune that administers both villages.

India on Sunday strongly hit out at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), accusing it of making "factually incorrect and unwarranted" references to Jammu and Kashmir in resolutions adopted by the grouping at a meeting in Niger, and asserted that the union territory is an integral and inalienable part of the country.

French President Emmanuel Macron late Sunday denounced a 'cowardly" attack on humanitarian workers in Niger and said he would do everything to shed light on the incident in which eight people died.

Eight people, including employees of a French aid group, were killed Sunday by gunmen riding motorcycles in an area of Niger that is home to the last West African giraffes, officials said.

A massive sandstorm swept over the capital of Niger, Niamey, on Monday.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou on Tuesday jointly inaugurated the first convention centre established in Africa by India to honour the memory of Mahatma Gandhi.

Heavily armed assailants stormed a military base in Niger on Thursday killing 25 people and leading to fierce clashes that killed 63 "terrorists", the defence ministry said, in an area where dozens died in a previous jihadist attack.

Hundreds of terrorists attacked a Niger military camp near the border with Mali with shelling and mortars, killing 71 soldiers, the defence ministry said Wednesday.

Niger on Saturday ordered the closure of the offices of the country's biggest telecoms operator Airtel, a subsidiary of the Bharti Airtel group, for unpaid taxes of 107 million dollars.