Suspected Boko Haram fighters kill three in southern Niger

NIAMEY (Reuters) - Suspected Nigerian Boko Haram militants raided a village in southern Niger, killing three people including a soldier, security sources in the West African nation said on Thursday. The overnight attack took place in the village of Abadam in the Diffa region near Niger's border with Nigeria earlier this week. "Boko Haram attacked Tuesday night," one military source said. "They killed two civilians and looted shops of goods. We lost a sergeant on Wednesday during a pursuit of the terrorists. But we neutralised them." A second military source confirmed the deaths. Both sources asked not to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the press. An estimated 150,000 people have fled to Diffa to escape Boko Haram violence in the past two years. A regional offensive by Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon earlier this year drove Boko Haram from much of the territory it held in northern Nigeria. But the militants have since struck back with a renewed wave of raids and suicide bombings. Niger's government has placed Diffa under a state of emergency, and authorities there have arrested and imprisoned some 1,100 suspected militants. (Reporting by Abdoulaye Massalaki; Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Leslie Adler)