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UPDATE 1-Gunmen kill 18 in attack on Niger military camp

Published 02/07/2019, 12:40
Updated 02/07/2019, 12:50
UPDATE 1-Gunmen kill 18 in attack on Niger military camp

(Updates death toll, adds details)
NIAMEY, July 2 (Reuters) - At least 18 soldiers in western
Niger were killed and four others were missing after suspected
Islamist militants blew up two cars and fired on a military
camp, the army said on Tuesday.
The raid occurred on Monday afternoon near the town of
Inates, close to the border with Mali, where militants are
active, and in the same region where an ambush by Islamic
State's West African branch killed 28 soldiers in May.
Niger hosts the African Union summit from July 6-9 less than
200 km (125 miles) away in the capital Niamey. In the run-up,
the European Union has been training Nigerien forces to respond
to militant attacks.
An army statement said the attack began with the explosion
of the two car bombs before additional assailants opened fire
from motorcyles. The army's "partners" then responded with air
strikes to force them across the border into Mali.
Former colonial power France has more 4,000 troops in West
Africa's Sahel region, a semi-arid strip of land south of the
Sahara, and often carries out air strikes on militants linked to
Islamic State and al Qaeda.
A security source said that about a dozen vehicles were
stolen in the raid. Jihadists have previously launched attacks
using vehicles stolen in earlier raids.
Security has deteriorated across the Sahel in recent months
due to both jihadist attacks and deadly ethnic reprisals
involving rival farming and herding communities, particularly in
Mali and Burkina Faso.
Militants loyal to Adnan Abu Waleed al-Sahrawi, the leader
of Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, operate along Mali's
border with Burkina Faso and Niger.
In 2017, they killed four members of U.S. special forces and
four Nigerien soldiers in an ambush near the village of Tongo
Tongo.

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