Niger’s government confirms a new report on the attack on Chinagoder’s advanced military post on January 9 indicates that 89 soldiers.
Government spokesman Abdourahman Zakaria said the death toll, which was initially estimated at 25 among the military, was revised upward, following a sweeping operation in the area located about 15 km from the border with Mali.
The announcement was made at the end of the National Security Council chaired by the President of Niger, Issoufou Mahamadou.
In addition, in the press release read Mr. Zakaria, a 72-hour national mourning is decreed as of Monday, January 13, 2020.
According to Defense Ministry Spokesman, Colonel Souleymane Gazobi, 63 terrorists were “neutralized and several motorcycles destroyed.”
The Chinagoder military post was attacked by heavily armed individuals, who stormed the area in large numbers, in vehicles and motorcycles.
After the clashes with the military, an initial assessment had revealed that 25 members of the Defense and Security Forces (SDF) were killed and another six wounded.
As a reminder, this attack on the Chinagoder barracks comes almost a month after a similar raid on the Inates camp on January 10, which claimed the lives of 71 Nigerien soldiers.
SA/Dng/fss/abj/APA