Gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members kidnapped 15 girls overnight in a village near Toumour, southeastern Niger, the local mayor said on Saturday.
Suspected Boko Haram fighters on Thursday killed eight people working at French drilling company Foraco's water well site in Toumour.
The violence has claimed the lives of thousands of civilians and forced millions to flee their homes in the large Lake Chad basin region.
Boko Haram is now renowned for kidnapping young girls since its fighters in 2014 kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State, in Nigeria. It also staged this year, another major kidnap of schoolgirls in Dapchi, Yobe state.