In Kokoloko, a Nigerien drone strikes a crowded market and kills 17 civilians

On January 6, 2026, at 1:30 PM, a Nigerien military drone dropped a munition on the market of Kokoloko, a village of 1,200 inhabitants located in the Tillabéri region, less than 3 kilometers from the Burkinabe border. Seventeen civilians were killed, including eleven women and four children. Thirteen other people were injured. The market was crowded.

Three fighters from the Islamic State in the Sahel (EIS) also perished in the strike. They were at the market, unarmed, dressed in civilian clothes. According to witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch, “EIS fighters shop at all the markets in the area, they buy their things and leave.” This is a reality well known to those who have operated in this region: the lines between civilian populations and armed groups are blurred, fluid, and rarely clear.

The geography of the tragedy

Kokoloko is located 120 kilometers west of Niamey, in this gray area where the Nigerien state exerts only fragmented control. The Tillabéri region, wedged between Mali and Burkina Faso, has the highest rates of violence against civilians in the central Sahel. The EIS has been operating there for years, but so has JNIM. The Nigerien Armed Forces (FAN) conduct near-daily counter-insurgency operations there.

According to satellite data analyzed by Human Rights Watch, NASA's FIRMS system detected active fires in Kokoloko on January 6 at 1:31 PM local time. Images from January 7 show new burn marks that did not exist the day before. The wooden stalls and stored fuel at the market amplified the fire.

The Turkish drones of Niger

Since 2022, the Nigerien army has acquired several types of Turkish combat drones: Bayraktar TB-2, Karayel-SU, Aksungur UCAV. These devices are equipped with sensors that allow for real-time surveillance with video feedback. They can be armed with guided munitions. In theory, this technology allows for precise discrimination between military and civilian targets.

In practice, the Kokoloko strike demonstrates the opposite. Striking a crowded market with an explosive device, even if three fighters were present, constitutes an indiscriminate attack under international humanitarian law. Human Rights Watch mentions a possible war crime.

A recurring pattern

This is not the first time. In September 2025, Nigerien airstrikes hit a weekly market in Injar, also in the Tillabéri region, killing more than 30 civilians. In January 2024, drone strikes in Tiawa resulted in several civilian casualties. The junta in power since July 2023 has made no public comment following the Kokoloko attack. It has not responded to the letter from Human Rights Watch dated January 26.

This silence is telling. The Sahelian juntas that have broken with France and the West claim absolute sovereignty over their military operations. But sovereignty does not mean impunity.

The exodus

After the strike, almost all the inhabitants of Kokoloko fled. Some to neighboring villages, others across the border to Mali. “I spent the first night in a neighboring village with my children,” recounted a woman who lost her cousin and her 5-year-old nephew. “Then we crossed into Mali, almost with nothing.”

The EIS fighters helped the residents collect the bodies. This detail speaks volumes about the situation in Tillabéri: armed groups are sometimes the only actors present to provide even minimal assistance. The state strikes from the sky but is not there on the ground.

The counter-terrorism dilemma

From experience, I know that counter-insurgency operations in the Sahelian zone pose immense challenges. The enemy does not wear a uniform, blends into the population, uses markets, mosques, and ceremonies. But this difficulty cannot justify strikes on places filled with women and children.

Turkish drones have been presented as a miracle solution by the Sahelian juntas seeking alternatives to Western partnerships deemed constraining. Ankara supplies, trains, and does not ask embarrassing questions about human rights. The result is clear: precision technology used indiscriminately.

What lies ahead

The Tillabéri region will remain a hotspot. The EIS and JNIM are strengthening their presence there. Civilian populations are caught between armed groups that tax and recruit them and armed forces that bomb them indiscriminately. The cycle is known: each strike that kills civilians strengthens the recruitment of jihadist groups.

Information about the chain of command for this strike remains incomplete. It is unclear who gave the order, based on what intelligence. But if Niger wants to win this war, it cannot afford to lose the populations of Tillabéri. Kokoloko, after this strike, is a ghost village. Others will follow.