2023-08-14 05:28:00
The High Command of the National Guard announced a “provisional report” reporting six dead among the soldiers as well as one injured.
By IM with AFP Nigerien soldiers. © BALIMA BOUREIMA / ANADOLU AGENCY / Anadolu Agency via AFP Published on 08/14/2023 at 05:28
Six Nigerien soldiers, including the head of the mission, as well as ten “terrorists” were killed on Sunday August 13 in fighting in western Niger, according to a press release from the High Command of the National Guard read on television. Another soldier was injured, according to the “provisional assessment” of the High Command. Nigerien soldiers who were in five vehicles “engaged in pursuit” against suspected jihadists, when they allegedly fell into an ambush around 11:00 a.m. (10:00 GMT) about twenty kilometers from the town of Sanam, in the west of the country.
According to the same source, the ambush was set “by terrorists” who were driving “a dozen motorcycles”. “Ten terrorists” were killed during a “mopping operation” carried out by “air and ground reinforcements”, the statement said, and four of the attackers’ motorcycles were “destroyed”.
Numerous jihadist attacks
The locality of Sanam is located in the region of Tillabéri, in the so-called “three borders” zone located between Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso, the scene of numerous jihadist attacks.
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On August 9, five National Guard soldiers were killed and four wounded in an attack on their position in Bourkou Bourkou, near the mining town of Samira, also in the “three borders” area, the regime announced. in power since the overthrow of President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26.
The head of the new regime, General Abdourahamane Tiani, justified the coup by “the security deterioration” in the country, undermined by the violence of jihadist groups.
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