Muslim militants on Thursday carried out a large assault on Niger’s military, leaving at least 25 soldiers dead along with dozens of jihadists only a month after the worst attack of its kind in years, the military said.
The violence struck the town of Chinagodrar right on Niger’s border with Mali.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the attack bore the hallmarks of an Islamic State-linked group that said it was behind an ambush last month near the town of Inates.
Thursday’s assault came just days before French President Emmanuel Macron is due to meet in France with the president of Niger and other leaders from the Sahel region — a meeting that was pushed back a month ago after the unprecedented attack on Niger’s armed forces.
The leaders from France’s former colonies of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger are due to discuss the role of the French military in the face of mounting attacks.
The Nigerien Ministry of Defense said on Thursday that 63 jihadists had been killed along with the 25 soldiers in the attack about 11km from the border with Mali.
On Wednesday, UN Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel Mohamed Ibn Chambas spoke of “a devastating surge in terrorist attacks against civilian and military targets” in recent months.
Chambas told the UN Security Council that terrorist attacks have increased five-fold in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger since 2016.
There were more than 4,000 deaths reported last year, compared with an estimated 770 deaths in 2016, he said.
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