At least 12 people were killed in a night raid in southeastern Niger blamed on Boko Haram terror group, local officials said.

The Friday night attack occurred in the border district of Gueskerou, and is the latest to hit the Diffa region near Lake Chad, which is crisscrossed by fighter groups and traffickers.

"Twelve villagers were killed on Friday at around 8:00pm (19:00 GMT) by Boko Haram elements," AFP quotes a local elected official.

Gueskerou has been dogged by clashes and kidnappings for years, mostly attributed to Boko Haram.

The terror group has waged a jihadist war in the Lake Chad region for years, killing thousands and displacing hundreds of thousands more.

The group has operated in Nigeria for over a decade, but extended their terror activities into neighbouring countries in a bid to attempt to enforce their extremist agenda to a bigger area.

The Lake Chad states have put concerted efforts to crush the group, forcing the militants into hiding.

Even from hiding, the militants still occasionally manage to stage attacks using suicide bombers.

Led by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, the Lake Chad states’ leaders have expressed optimism that the threat of terror will be defeated.

(Source: Al Jazeera)