APA – Niamey (Niger) – Jihadist attacks have intensified in recent days in Niger as the country goes through a new institutional crisis following the 26 July coup against President Mohamed Bazoum.
According to a press release issued by the Ministry of National Defense, a detachment of the Nigerien Armed Forces (FAN) fell into a “terrorist ambush” at around 1.30pm yesterday, Tuesday 15 August, near Koutougou, a town located 52 kilometres south-west of Torodi, in the Tillaberi region.
“The swift reaction of the soldiers and the air-land response at the scene of the skirmish enabled the enemy to be dealt with,” the Defense Ministry said.
The official provisional toll is 17 soldiers killed and 20 wounded, including six in a serious condition, who have all been evacuated to Niamey, according to the official statement.
The Ministry of Defense said that more than a hundred insurgents had been neutralised by the army during the Niger soldiers’ response.
“Two columns of more than fifty motorbikes each were destroyed (i.e. more than a hundred terrorists neutralised) during their retreat,” the statement said, adding that a combing operation was still underway in the area near the Burkina Faso border.
“Senior Minister, Minister of National Defense, on behalf of the President of the CNSP, head of state, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, offers his condolences to the families of the missing and wishes a speedy recovery to the wounded,” concluded the statement signed by Lieutenant General Salifou Modi.
This is the third major attack against the Niger Defense and Security Forces (FDS) in less than a week in the three-border area (Burkina, Mali and Niger), where jihadists belonging mainly to the Islamic State in the Sahel are rampant.
The jihadist group recently published images of several dozen men pledging allegiance to the new leader of the Islamic State, Abu Hafs al Hachimi al Qurachi, in Azawagh.
AYB/ac/fss/as/APA