Heartless and barbaric Boko Haram gunmen have killed 16 civilians in an attack on a southeast Niger village, near the Nigerian border.

“On July 15, Boko Haram elements fired on locals who were praying in a village near the town of Bosso,” said Bako Mamadou, mayor of Bosso, a town in southeast Niger on the border with Nigeria, where the armed Islamist group originated.

“They killed 15 people on the spot and another person succumbed later to their wounds,” Mamadou said on state television. According to the Bosso mayor, four others were injured in the attack.

Meanwhile the Niger army said Saturday it had killed 32 Boko Haram fighters from July 15-17 during “sweeping up” operations following the July 15 attack by “Boko Haram elements”.

The defence ministry added that three Islamist fighters were taken into custody, adding that Chadian soldiers also took part in the operation.