Boma Achenimie 
The military ministry reported that 17 Niger troops were killed on Tuesday in a suspected jihadist attack close to the nation’s western border with Mali.
According to a statement issued by the ministry late on Tuesday, an army detachment was “the victim of a terrorist ambush near the town of Koutougou.”
Another 20 soldiers had also been hurt, with six of them suffering critical injuries. All of the casualties had been sent to Niamey, the country’s capital.
During their retreat, the army claimed that more than 100 attackers were “neutralised.”
It would be recalled that for more than ten years, a terrorist insurgency has afflicted Africa’s Sahel area. It began in northern Mali in 2012 and moved to nearby Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015.
Attacks by insurgents linked to the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda frequently take place in the region known as the “three borders” between the three nations.
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Thousands of soldiers, police officers, and civilians have been slain in the region’s instability, and millions of people have been forced to evacuate their homes.
Since 2020, military coups have taken place in all three nations as a result of anger over the bloodshed, with Niger becoming the most recent victim on July 26 when President Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown.
In addition, terrorists entering into Niger from northeastern Nigeria, the origin of a campaign started by Boko Haram in 2010, are waging a jihadist insurgency in the country’s southeast.
