The terrorists attacked the village of N'Gagam near the Nigerian border on Friday evening, Bazoum said.Urgence Diffa, which monitors the security and humanitarian situation in the area, reported that the attackers arrived in vehicles and opened fire on the police officers in the village.

Bazoum had visited the village, located some 40 kilometres from the town of Diffa, with a delegation just a few hours before the attack.

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Boko Haram is an extremist Sunni organisation that launches regular offensives in Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon with the ultimate goal of setting up a fundamentalist theocracy under a strict interpretation of Islamic law.