20 refugees killed in Niger stampede

No fewer than 20 people have been feared dead in a stampede in south-eastern Niger, claiming the lives of innocent women and children, BBC reports.

MyNigeria.com learnt that the worst affected were refugees from neighbouring Nigeria queuing for food and money in the town of Diffa.

Ten other people were injured.

The Diffa region is home to around 120,000 people displaced by years of violence carried out by Boko Haram militants in north-eastern Nigeria.

It was in a bid to hurriedly collect aid supplies that the unfortunate incident took place.

The aid was provided by the governor of Nigeria's Borno state who was visiting refugee camps in the area, according to AFP news agency.

Militant Islamist group Boko Haram and its offshoots have waged a brutal insurgency in Nigeria since 2009.