ACCRA
Niger’s military killed 20 gunmen and captured 11 others during a thwarted assault overnight into Thursday morning on a Nigerien Air Force base in the capital.
Nigerien President Abdourahamane Tchiani told national television Thursday that the swift response of Niger’s defense forces and their “Russian partners” led to the “complete routing of the attackers.”
“Some were neutralized on the spot. Others were neutralized as they fled in panic,” he said.
Tchiani named the presidents of France, Benin and Ivory Coast as “sponsors” of the attackers, warning that “they should now prepare to listen to us roar.”
The attackers launched a 30-minute assault on Air Base 101 within the premises of Diori Hamani International Airport, said a Defense Ministry statement.
It said the attack, carried out by gunmen on motorcycles, left four soldiers wounded and damaged equipment, including an ammunition stock which caught fire.
The air base’s security system, in coordination with Niamey’s defense and security forces, successfully repelled the attack, according to the ministry.
It said that as the gunmen fled, they fired indiscriminately at three civilian aircraft, including two operated by the airline ASKY.
Since December, the airport has become a storage site for around 1,000 metric tons of uranium concentrate from the Arlit mine in northern Niger amid a legal dispute with the French nuclear group Orano.
The government revoked Orano’s license and took full control of the Arlit mine in December 2024.
Niger is facing escalating insecurity from terrorist groups like JNIM and ISIS (Daesh), with persistent attacks, civilian casualties and displacement primarily concentrated in the country’s western regions.
On Dec. 20 last year, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) officially launched its 5,000-strong joint military force, the United Force of the AES (FU-AES), during a ceremony at an air base in Bamako, Mali.
It was inaugurated by Mali’s military leader Assimi Goita. The force is commanded by Burkinabe General Daouda Traore and headquartered in Niamey.
