The toll of this attack which took place in the locality of Intagamey, in the so-called Three Borders area, could however be much heavier, the ministry evoking “16 people missing and 13 soldiers injured”.
According to the press release, the response of the soldiers and “the prompt intervention of air vectors” forced the attackers to retreat “to a neighboring country”presumably Mali, located a few kilometers from the attack.
The press release does not specify the number of attackers killed in the response but assures that the attackers took “many bodies” in their retreat.
This February 11 in the evening, France has “condemned in the strongest terms the attack which left ten dead”.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed “its full solidarity with the authorities and people of Niger” and stand by their side “in the fight against terrorism”.
France supports Niger in its operation Almahaou which aims to secure the border with Mali, with 250 soldiers in a “fighting partnership”.
Niger is also one of the options for the redeployment of French special forces, driven out of neighboring Burkina by the ruling junta.
The February 10 attack took place in the immense and unstable region of Tillabéri, with an area of 100,000 km2, which is located in the so-called “of the three borders” on the borders of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali.
The first attacks against the army in this area began in 2010 but intensified in 2017.
The authorities have launched several vast operations there near the border with Mali to fight against the jihadists, in particular Operation Almahaou.
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After a few months of calm, eleven civilians were killed in October 2022, during several attacks. On February 8, nine people were killed in an attack by “heavily armed terrorists” against a Malian refugee site in the Tahoua region, still in the same area.
It is in this same region of Tahoua that 141 civilians were massacred on March 21, 2021 by suspected jihadists in several attacks carried out against several villages.
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In a previous bulletin dated January 24, the army judged “the relatively calm security situation” and “the continuation of its operations had” made it possible to maintain strong pressure on armed terrorist groups”.