Niger: new attack against the army in the west

Gunmen on Tuesday attacked a Nigerian army position in the Inates area (west) near the Mali border, a security source told AFP.

« This is a position of our army in the Inates area that has been attacked. The attackers, who came in the tens, and small groups of motorcycles, attacked the camp they surrounded around 19:25 local time (18:25 GMT), « the source told AFP.

She could not provide a report immediately. « The attack has been postponed and the situation is currently under control. Reinforcements were sent on the spot, « she said.

On 1 July 2019, 18 Nigerian soldiers were killed and four missing during the attack on the same advanced Inates military post, claimed by the Islamic State group.

Previously, it is in this same area of ​​Inates that 18 fighters of the Islamic State organization in the Great Sahara (EIGS) were killed during a joint operation of the Nigerian, French and American armed forces conducted from 8 to 18 June.

There is also Boko Haram

On May 14, an EIGS ambush killed 28 Nigerian soldiers in a nearby area.

In October 2017, the EIGS claimed responsibility for an attack in which four US soldiers and five Nigerian soldiers were killed in the Tongo Tongo area, located in the Tillabéri region (west), about 20 kilometers from the border with Mali. .

Tuesday’s attack is the second in two days against positions of the Nigerian army.

On Monday, three Nigerian soldiers and fourteen « terrorists » were killed in an attack on an army camp in the Tahoua (west) region near Tillaberi and near Mali, said Tuesday the Nigerian Ministry of Defense.

A very poor country, Niger – like its Sahelian neighbors, Mali and Burkina Faso – faces recurrent attacks by jihadist groups in the West. Niger is also facing raids by the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram in the south-east.