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picture taken on May 23, 2015 in Diffa, southeastern Niger, shows Nigerien
children whose families fled Boko Haram attacks ©Issouf Sanogo (AFP)
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Some 150 schools with
more than 12,000 pupils have been forced to close due to the deadly attacks in
Niger's southeast Diffa region, the United Nations said Friday. Most of the affected
schools are near Lake Chad and on the banks of the Yobe River, which marks the
border between Niger and Nigeria, the UN's Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.
The
agency said 151 schools with a total of 12,631 pupils had closed due to
"insecurity that has sparked the absence of teachers and panic in the
population".
AFP report continues:
"The
pupils are now at camps for displaced people," the agency said, adding
that there are no schools at the camps.
Numerous
local schools closed following Boko Haram's first attacks in the country in
February, with more following suit following a recent surge in assaults by the
Nigeria-based Islamist group, a local official told AFP.
Thirteen
people were killed and three injured in an attack on the Diffa village of Ala
last week, local officials said.
Niger's
government has been working with the UN and other partners on a plan intended
to allow children to go back to their studies in safer locations by the end of
November.
Boko
Haram has carried out a string of deadly attacks in Diffa, one of its
strongholds on the Niger-Nigeria border, as the army struggles to contain the
group's regional advances.
Cameroon,
Chad and Niger have formed a military alliance with Nigeria and Benin to battle
the extremists, who this year declared allegiance to the Islamic State.
Boko Haram has been hit
hard by the multinational offensive, losing territory, but it has launched
attacks and bombings in response.
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