At least 44 civilians were killed and 13 others injured in an attack on a mosque in southwest Niger. The country’s defence ministry said the attack occurred during yesterday afternoon prayers in the village of Fombita, in the rural commune of Kokorou. The location is near the tri-border region of Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali, known as the epicentre of a jihadist insurgency in West Africa linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The ministry said the attackers then set fire to a market and houses before retreating. The government blamed the attack on the EIGS group, an Islamic State affiliate.