The incident comes as Niger holds a primary election runoff between striker Mohamed Bazoum and former President Mahamane Ousmane.
Seven Nigerian election commissions (CENI) were killed during the country’s primary water runoff when their vehicle collided with a mine and exploded in the troubled western region of Tillaberi.
The country regularly suffers attacks from armed groups and was uplifted to defend Sunday’s poll, in which ruling party candidate Mohamed Bazoum is facing former President Mahamane Ousmane.
A vehicle belonging to CENI and transporting election workers to their polling stations hit a mine in rural Dargol in the southwest, said Harouna Mounkaila, vice president of the commission’s local branch.
“They were going to drop off the ballot boxes and members of the polling station,” Moukaila told Reuters news agency, adding that three other employees were seriously injured.
Tillaberi is in the three-border region of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali where armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) have strengthened their leg, launched frequent attacks and carried out swathes of the part of the west of the inaccessible Sahel.
The local government confirmed the death toll following Sunday’s explosion.
“My news was around noon [11:00 GMT] seven people were killed when the vehicle exploded on a mine, “Tidjani Ibrahim Katiella told AFP news agency.
“They are the heads of polling stations and their secretaries” employed by the commission, Katiella said.
Thousands of troops were sent in across the country for the vote, which was promoted in a peaceful movement between elected presidents, the first since Niger ‘s independence from France in 1960.
President Mahamadou Issoufou’s decision to resign voluntarily was welcomed after two five-year terms in an area where many leaders have tried to maintain power.
“I am proud to be the first democratically elected president in our history to be able to hand over the baton to another democratically elected president,” Issoufou said in a vote. at the town hall in the capital, Niamey.
Sixty-year-old Bazoum, Issoufou’s right-hand man and anointed heir, is seen as the favorite after receiving 39.3 per cent of votes in the first round of voting on December 27 .Us Ousmane, 71 – who became the first democratically elected country president in 1993, just to top the cup three years later – has accumulated 16.9 percent.
Polling stations were due to close at 7pm (18:00 GMT).