The provisional tally also calls for “seventeen dead in enemy ranks” and the seizure of “weapons and ammunition” from members of units conducting a clearing operation in the area, the ministry added, according to a statement read during a public radio news broadcast. last night.
Six members of Niger’s armed forces were killed and fifteen others wounded overnight Monday to Tuesday in an attack by about “fifty” suspected jihadists on a military post in Blabren (southeast), on the border with Chad, the Ministry of Defense announced.
The provisional tally also calls for “seventeen dead in enemy ranks” and the seizure of “weapons and ammunition” from members of units conducting a clearing operation in the area, the ministry added, according to a statement read during a public radio news broadcast. last night.
It was not specified to which organization the perpetrators belonged. Niger is frequently attacked by jihadists from Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa (ISIS), which emerged when the former broke away.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the attack took place “on the night of Monday 4th to Tuesday 5th July”, around “at 01:00” (local time; 03:00 Greek time), but “the reaction (of the soldiers) allowed it to be pushed back (…) and let the enemy flee.”
It was the second attack in two days in the southeastern part of Niger, following the one reported on Sunday in Garen Dogo, near the border with Nigeria, by “Boko Haram elements”, which resulted in the death of a soldier.
Blabren is located in the Diffa region and neighbors Chad. Its military base has been targeted by “terrorists” several times since 2015. In May 2020, twelve Nigerien soldiers were killed and another ten wounded in an attack attributed to Boko Haram, according to the official account. In late October 2019, another twelve soldiers were killed and eight wounded in an attack on the same base.
When he visited the Diffa region in late June, Niger’s president, Mohamed Bazoum, spoke of “good results”, assuring that “the war” against Boko Haram and ISIL jihadists was on its way to being “won”.
The Diffa region, which borders Nigeria and Chad, is home to some 300,000 Nigerian refugees and internally displaced Nigerien citizens uprooted by Boko Haram and ISIL atrocities, according to the UN.
Niger is at the same time active in the Sahel jihadist groups, including the Islamic State in the Sahara (ISIS) in its western part, where frequent and deadly attacks are carried out against military personnel and civilians.
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