At least 70 civilians have been killed in simultaneous attacks on two villages by suspected Islamist militants in Niger, near the border zone with Mali, security sources have said. About 49 villagers were killed and 17 people wounded in the village of Tchombangou, said one of the security sources on Saturday, who requested anonymity. A second source, a senior official in Niger’s interior ministry who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said that about 30 other villagers had been killed in the village of Zaroumdareye. Niger’s government was not immediately available to comment. Niger has previously suffered attacks by Islamist militants linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State. Attacks near the western border with Mali and Burkina Faso, and the south-eastern border with Nigeria, killed hundreds of people last year.