Niamey - Armed men killed seven people on
Thursday in an attack on French drilling company Foraco's
water well site in southeastern Niger, a security and
company source said.
The security source said the assailants were believed to
belong to Nigerian jihadist group Boko Haram, which is active in
the Diffa region near the border with Nigeria.
An official at the well site in the village of Toumour did
not know who was responsible for the attack but said the victims
included six company employees and one civil servant.
"We lost six agents in our ranks," the official told
Reuters. "The controller, a civil service agent, was kidnapped
before having his throat slit not far from the site."
Boko Haram has been trying since 2009 to establish an
Islamic state in northeast Nigeria and has launched repeated
attacks into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon. Thousands of
civilians have died in the violence.
Marseille-based Foraco is listed on the Toronto Stock
Exchange and says it is the third largest global mineral driller
with mining and water projects across 22 countries.