Boko Haram Attacks in Niger Displace 50,000 in Single Day - UNHCR

A recent attack by Islamist militant group Boko Haram on Niger's southeastern town of Bosso has forced 50,000 people to flee their homes, the chief spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Tuesday.

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) — Many people were traumatized and worried about their safety, Adrian Edward stressed, adding that they urgently needed shelter and other assistance.

"Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in south-east Niger following a series of attacks since last Friday by Boko Haram insurgents on the town of Bosso in the troubled Diffa region <…> An estimated 50,000 people fled Friday’s attack, mainly walking westwards to Toumour, some 30 kilometres [18.6 miles] west of Bosso," Edward said at a press briefing at the Palace of Nations in Geneva.

"Additional support from the donor community is urgently required. This is a desperately poor area where the general insecurity has destroyed the socio-economic fabric," he stressed.

Boko Haram began large-scale attacks in northeast Nigeria in 2009. Last year, the group expanded attacks into Niger, Cameroon and Chad. The extremist group pledged allegiance to Daesh, outlawed in Russia and many other countries, in March 2015.