Six Soldiers, Ten Suspected Terrorists Killed In Western Niger Clash

The High Command of the National Guard, says six Nigerien soldiers and ten “terrorists” lost their lives on Sunday during clashes in the western part of the country.

The provisional assessment from the High Command indicates that six soldiers, including the mission’s leader, were killed, and an additional soldier sustained injuries.

According to the statement, a group of Nigerien soldiers, travelling in five vehicles, were involved in pursuit operations against suspected jihadists. Tragically, they were ambushed around 10 a.m. GMT, about twenty kilometres away from the town of Sanam in the western part 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”.

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.

It would be recalled that on August 9, a tragic incident unfolded when an attack targeted a national guard position in Bourkou Bourkou, located near the mining town of Samira within the “three borders” zone. The regime, which has been in control since the ousting of President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, officially announced that five national guard soldiers lost their lives in the attack, while four others sustained injuries.

The leader of the new regime, General Abdourahamane Tiani, has offered a rationale for the coup, pointing to the country’s “security deterioration,” a situation exacerbated by the unrelenting violence carried out by jihadist groups.