According to the country’s Ministry of Defense, at least 17 Niger troops were killed in an attack by armed groups close to the Mali-Niger border.
A unit of the Nigerien Armed Forces (FAN) traveling between Boni and Torodi, according to a statement made late on Tuesday, “was the victim of a terrorist ambush near the town of Koutougou [52 kilometers southwest of Torodi]”.
Twenty other troops had also sustained injuries, and all of them had been flown to Niamey, the nation’s capital.
The army claimed that more than 100 attackers were “neutralized” during their withdrawal.
The border region where central Mali, northern Burkina Faso, and western Niger meet has evolved over the past ten years into the center of conflict between armed groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS).
Since 2020, military coups have taken place in all three nations as a result of anger over the killings, with Niger becoming the most recent victim on July 26 when President Mohamed Bazoum was ousted. Armed gangs traveling from northeastern Nigeria, the origin of a Boko Haram assault that began in 2010, are also targeting southeast Niger. The leaders of the coup said that the lack of security in the nation was “due to the deteriorating security situation and bad governance” and that this was why Bazoum was overthrown.
However, Ahmed Idris of Al Jazeera remarked that the Nigerien military government’s revocation of agreements with the French military and suspension of help by Niamey’s other allies “makes life more difficult” while reporting from Abuja in neighbouring Nigeria.
“Niger will now find it challenging to locate equipment and weapons while dealing with the rising instances of attacks by these armed groups in the Sahel,” He stated on Wednesday that the organization could need to rely on mercenary organizations operating in Mali and Burkina Faso as well as nations like those two for experience.