Scores killed in suspected Islamist terrorist attacks in Niger

In Niger, a military camp was attacked Thursday by suspected Islamist militants, killing at least 25 soldiers and more than 60 assailants, local media reported.

The attack took place on an army outpost in western Niger, just a few kilometers from the border with Mali. It is close to where 71 soldiers were killed just a month ago, in an attack later claimed by the Islamic State Group affiliate in the region.

Militants linked to al-Qaeda are also present in the area, while the Boko Haram group are active on the country’s south-eastern border.

Also, on Thursday, 20 people were injured in northern Mali’s restive Kidal region, including 18 UN peacekeepers from Chad, in a rocket attack on a military base for UN, French and Malian forces. Six of the peacekeepers from the MINUSMA mission were seriously wounded by the attack on the base in the town of Tessalit.

The attacks come on the eve of a summit in France with West African leaders. Heads of state from West Africa and France will be meeting in Pau, France, on Monday, to find new strategies against jihadists in the Sahel.

The goal is to adopt a new, common strategy for military missions in West Africa. French troops have been stationed in West Africa since 2014 under the military Operation Barkhane. The five states on the southern edge of the Sahara founded their own joint reaction force in 2018, the G5-Sahel, musterin 5,000 soldiers from all five countries.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, EU Council President Charles Michel and the President of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki are also invited to the working lunch.

Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the United Nations envoy for West Africa and the Sahel, told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that the region has experienced “a devastating surge in terrorist attacks against civilian and military targets” in recent months.

He said terrorist attacks have increased fivefold in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger since 2016, with over 4,000 deaths reported in 2019 compared to roughly 770 deaths in 2016.

In Burkina Faso, deaths surged from about 80 in 2016 to over 1,800 in 2019, he said.

‘Most significantly, the geographic focus of terrorist attacks has shifted eastwards from Mali to Burkina Faso and is increasingly threatening West African coastal states,’ Chambas underlined.

He said terror attacks were often ‘deliberate efforts by violent extremists to capture weapons and trafficking routes’ as well as engage in illicit activities, such as illegal mining, that sustain their operations.