(TAN): Six French tourists were among eight people gunned down by attackers riding motorcycles in southwest Niger on Aug. 9, reports said.
The former French colony is popular among tourists because of the presence of West African giraffes, also known as Niger giraffes.
“There are eight dead: two Nigeriens including a guide and a driver, while the other six are French,” news agency AFP quoted the governor of the Tillaberi region as saying.
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Some 20 years ago, a small herd of West African giraffes found a safe haven from poachers and predators in the area. Today their number has grown to a few hundreds and have become a major tourist attraction, reports said.
The area, however, remains unstable and motorcycles are banned in order to curb the movement of terrorists.
