Niger: 5 soldiers killed in anti-terror operation
Five Nigerien soldiers have been killed and four were reported missing in an operation against jihadists on the country’s southeastern frontier with Nigeria, the defence ministry said Thursday.
“Around 20 terrorists” were also killed in the fighting on Tuesday, the ministry said in a statement read on television.
It gave no details of the operation against jihadists beyond the fact that it was backed by Niger’s “partners” and deployed both air and ground forces.
Niamey is part of a France-backed alliance of countries in the Sahel region battling jihadists, including some belonging to a group aligned with the so-called Islamic State known as ISWAP — themselves an offshoot of Boko Haram.