At least 23 refugees killed in Niger aid stampede

SANAA, Feb. 18 (YPA) – At least 23 people were killed on Monday in a stampede when Nigerian refugees rushed to get food and clothes from a social center in Niger, on the borders of the two countries, officials said.

Regional Nigerian officials said, according to Reuters, that the refugees were queuing for aid in the town of Diffa.

The area is home to almost 250,000 displaced people, according to the United Nations. Many of them have fled attacks by Boko Haram Islamist militants and other armed groups in northeast Nigeria.

Boko Haram has been fighting for a decade for a caliphate in the region and has carried out repeated raids in neighboring Chad, Niger and Cameroon countries, killing thousands of people.