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Heavy security forces have locked down Niger’s primary international airport following a night of heavy gunfire and explosions that many fear was a coordinated terrorist strike.
Residents near Diori Hamani International Airport reported an hour of intense shelling and “streaks of light” in the sky shortly after midnight, leaving behind charred vehicles and scorched earth near the runways.
While the ruling military junta, led by Abdourahamane Tiani, has yet to issue an official statement, the strategic significance of the site is undeniable.
The airport serves as the headquarters for the joint military force between Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali, and houses a critical drone base.
It is also currently the storage site for a massive, disputed shipment of nationalised uranium that has sparked a legal battle with the French company Orano.
Analysts suggest the incident fits the pattern of the Al-Qaeda-linked group JNIM, which has recently ramped up efforts to delegitimise the region’s military governments by targeting high-profile security installations.
This escalation comes at a tense moment for Niger; since the 2023 coup, the junta has expelled French and U.S. counter-terrorism forces, even as terrorist violence claimed nearly 2,000 lives across the country in 2025.
Flight trackers showed that several commercial and cargo flights were diverted to neighbouring countries during the unrest.
Although a tense calm has returned to the capital, the lack of information from the government has left residents on edge, waiting to see if this breach of the capital’s defences signals a new, more aggressive phase of the Sahelian insurgency.
