Boko Haram fighters kill at least 16 soldiers in attack on military post in southern Niger
25 August 2021 - 22:30
byBoureima Balima
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A Niger soldier patrols along the border in Maradi region. Picture: GILES CLARKE/GETTY IMAGES
Niamey — Hundreds of Boko Haram militants attacked a military post in southern Niger overnight, killing 16 soldiers and wounding nine more, the defence ministry said on Wednesday.
About 50 of the militants were killed in the resulting combat in the West African country’s Diffa region and some weapons were recovered, the ministry said in a statement.
The Boko Haram insurgency broke out in northeastern Nigeria in 2009, but violence frequently spills over into neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon in the Lake Chad Basin.
Jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and Islamic State have killed hundreds of civilians in the region in 2021.
On Monday, armed men had killed 37 civilians, including 14 children, in an attack on a village of Banibangou, in the Tillabery region near the Malian border, a security service memo said.
More than 100 people were killed in the same region in January.
In December, another attack blamed on Boko Haram claimed the lives of 28 people and 800 homes were razed in Diffa.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Boko Haram fighters kill at least 16 soldiers in attack on military post in southern Niger
Niamey — Hundreds of Boko Haram militants attacked a military post in southern Niger overnight, killing 16 soldiers and wounding nine more, the defence ministry said on Wednesday.
About 50 of the militants were killed in the resulting combat in the West African country’s Diffa region and some weapons were recovered, the ministry said in a statement.
The Boko Haram insurgency broke out in northeastern Nigeria in 2009, but violence frequently spills over into neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon in the Lake Chad Basin.
Jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and Islamic State have killed hundreds of civilians in the region in 2021.
On Monday, armed men had killed 37 civilians, including 14 children, in an attack on a village of Banibangou, in the Tillabery region near the Malian border, a security service memo said.
More than 100 people were killed in the same region in January.
In December, another attack blamed on Boko Haram claimed the lives of 28 people and 800 homes were razed in Diffa.
Reuters
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