Security sources in Niger say two villagers have been killed during a raid in the volatile south as troops repelled an attack by jihadists.

The sources told AFP news Wednesday that the director of a school and a retired education official were killed in cold blood while sleeping in the village of Fantio Tuesday night in the southwestern region of Tillaberi.

The attackers, who came on motorbikes, took away cattle, the source added.

Meanwhile, a multinational military force said on Tuesday, that soldiers foiled an attack by Boko Haram militants in the volatile Lake Chad region, killing three of the attackers and seized weapons.

The Mixed Multinational Force (FMM) in the statement added that the remaining insurgents fled in four vehicles following the clash in the southeastern town of Bosso.

It stated that three attackers were neutralised and one vehicle seized, adding that a machinegun and three Kalashnikov assault rifles had also been recovered.

The FMM is made up of soldiers from Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

Rated the poorest country in the world under the UN's Human Development Index, Niger is battling militant insurgences on its southwestern flank with Mali and on its southeastern border with Nigeria.