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Attack On Military Camp Kills Dozens Of Soldiers

By Grace Shaibu
Thursday, December 12th, 2019
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Suspected Islamist militants have killed more than 70 soldiers in an attack on a remote military post in western Niger. It was the deadliest assault on the West African country’s military in recent history.

Armed militants ambushed a Nigerien army camp near the border with Mali, killing 71 troops, Niger’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

The three-hour assault took place late Tuesday, and was carried out by “heavily armed terrorists estimated to number many hundreds,” the ministry said in a statement. It added that 57 of the attackers had been killed.

The violence prompted President Issoufou Mahamadou to cut short a trip to Egypt. His office called the attack a “tragedy” and said the president would be chairing a meeting of the National Security Council on Thursday.

The Defense Ministry said reinforcements had been deployed to the area and the situation on Wednesday was “under control.”

Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants attend celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the Islamist movement's establishment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on October 2, 2012. AFP PHOTO/SAID KHATIB (Photo credit should read SAID KHATIB/AFP/GettyImages)
Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants attend celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the Islamist movement’s establishment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on October 2, 2012. AFP PHOTO/SAID KHATIB (Photo credit should read SAID KHATIB/AFP/GettyImages)

Increasing militant attacks

 It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the raid — the deadliest attack on the West African country’s military in recent memory.

Local sources quoted by news agencies said the militants arrived at the camp in the western town of Inmates on motorbikes and trucks and began firing mortars.

Jihadis with links to the “Islamic State” and al Qaeda have stepped up attacks on army outposts in West Africa’s Sahel region this year, despite the deployment of a regional military force and thousands of French troops. Mali and Burkina Faso have borne the brunt of the violence, but the militants have also spilt over the border into Niger.

The Inmates attack came 24 hours after another assault on a military base in nearby Tahoua, which left three Nigerien soldiers and 14 “terrorists” dead, according to the Nigerien Defense Ministry.

French President Emmanuel Macron has invited five presidents from the Sahel to a meeting next week to discuss security in the region.

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