Weapons, ammunition and counterfeit military uniforms are displayed in an event showcasing Nigerian police's achievements in fighting illegal militants in Abuja, Nigeria on Sept. 30, 2020. Nigerian police have recently stepped up fight against robbers, kidnappers and illegal armed groups in different parts of the country. (Photo by David Oma/Xinhua)

Gunmen killed a significant number of civilians in Niger on Saturday, authorities said, in the latest attack to rock the landlocked Sahel nation's troubled western Tillaberi region.

"The attack took place around noon [11:00 GMT] and there were deaths," a senior regional official told AFP, without giving an exact toll or further details of the attack.

A local official said "many civilians were killed" in the attack on Tchomo-Bangou, a village near the Mali border, but did not give details. 

"The attackers came to surround the village and killed up to 50 people," a local radio station journalist said. 

The attack came on the same day election officials announced results for the first round of Niger's presidential vote that put ruling party candidate and former government minister Mohamed Bazoum in the clear lead, with a runoff set for next month.

The vast and unstable Tillaberi region is located in the so-called tri-border area, a jihadist-plagued zone where the porous borders of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso converge.

Four thousand people across the three nations died in 2019 from jihadist violence and ethnic bloodshed stirred by Islamists.