Terrorists murdered 10 troops from Niger

The defense ministry reported on Saturday that at least 10 soldiers were killed in an ambush by some “armed terrorists” in southwest Niger, not far from the Mali border.

According to a ministry statement, 16 individuals are still missing and 13 soldiers were hurt in the attack on Friday, thus the death toll could go up.

The soldiers “came under a complicated ambush by a number of armed terrorists” while on patrol in the north of the Banibangou province, it claimed, making reference to jihadist organizations.

The statement did not clarify how many assailants were slain, only that they were killed during the fighting.
The attack happened in Tillaberi, a vast region in western Niger that borders Burkina Faso and Mali, two nations that have experienced jihadist insurgency. Since 2017, armed groups with ties to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have frequently attacked Tillaberi.

The area is close to the Tahoua region, where last week, heavily armed terrorists raided a camp sheltering migrants from nearby Mali.
That attack, which a local official claimed was carried out by “heavily armed terrorists” on motorcycles who escaped back into Mali, claimed nine lives.
According to the United Nations, Tahoua and Tillaberi are home to more than 61,000 Malian refugees.

Only 3,000 French troops will be stationed in the unrest-plagued Sahel region, which includes Niger and Chad and is home to terrorist organizations, following the withdrawal of French forces from Mali last year and the upcoming withdrawal from Burkina Faso.

The participating nations were all once French colonies.