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Latest Boko Haram attack drives some 50,000 from homes in Niger: UN

Xinhua, June 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

An estimated 50,000 people have fled their homes in southeast Niger following a series of attacks since Friday by Boko Haram insurgents on the town of Bosso in the troubled Diffa region, a UN official said on Tuesday.

UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards told reporters here on Tuesday that as of this morning the situation in Bosso was still unclear.

UNHCR warned last month that the security and humanitarian situation was worsening in the Diffa Region.

"We have not been working directly in Bosso since February 2015, when the insurgency spread from Nigeria to Niger, but we operate through local implementing partners to deliver help," the spokesperson noted.

According to the UNHCR, violence escalated throughout May in and around Bosso, including an assault on May 31 in the nearby town of Yebi that left nine people dead.

"The welfare of these people and others forced to flee the violence in Bosso is of great concern. Insecurity and lack of access have long hampered humanitarian operations in parts of the Diffa region," Edwards said. Enditem