Four Nigerien soldiers died during a dawn raid by dozens of armed assailants near the border with Nigeria, state television announced Friday.
“Armed men came in large numbers riding about 100 motorbikes and attacked the gendarme,” outpost at Bassira, a border village, in the Maradi region, a local elected official told AFP.
The official broadcaster stated that four members of Niger’s Defence and Security Forces (FDS) were killed and two injured in the attack, and a woman was hurt by a stray gunshot.
According to the report, the assailants took off with their dead and injured after an hour-long gunfight, but they left behind three motorcycles, communications equipment, and ammo.
“It’s an unprecedented attack for the area,” the elected official said, where gunmen dubbed “bandits” often kill, loot and terrorise the population.
“We are no longer dealing with cattle rustlers…,” Maradi regional governor Issoufou Mamane told state television after visiting the scene of the raid. “This cowardly and barbaric attack cannot go unpunished.”
The region shelters more than 46,000 Nigerian refugees who have fled the violence by armed gangs which have plagued the border for years, according to official figures.
Hiding behind in thick forests, the “bandits” launch their attacks along the 1,600-kilometer (1,000-mile) shared border between the two countries.
In addition to dealing with the competing Islamic State West Africa Province organization and Boko Haram militants, their militaries have conducted coordinated operations to try to stop the attacks.
