Tourists sexually assaulted in Senegal's Casamance region

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A group of European tourists have been robbed and sexually assaulted while driving through the Casamance region of southern Senegal, an official says. Armed men stopped the car as it was in the town of Diouloulou and assaulted three of the four tourists. Earlier this month, 14 people were killed in Casamance, which has been hit by a 25-year separatist rebellion.

Security had improved in Casamance in recent years and tourists had started to return to the picturesque region. Tourism is one of Senegal's biggest foreign-exchange earners and violent attacks on tourists are not common.

The four Europeans were being driven through Casamance near the border with The Gambia when the armed men attacked, the commander of the gendarmerie paramilitary force in Diouloulou, Mamadou Samba, told the Senegalese Press Agency (APS). They also made off with 4,400 euro ($5,480; £3,850) and 315,000 CFA francs ($595; £420).

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