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Several Nigerien soldiers have been killed in a terrorist assault in the country’s southwest, according to a local source speaking on Wednesday.
AFP reports that the attack targeted a river brigade in the Falmey district of the Dosso region. While the source confirmed there were “several dead,” no exact number was provided.
However, the Wamaps network — a collective of West African security journalists — reported that as many as 44 soldiers lost their lives in the ambush on Monday. The assailants were identified as members of Katiba Hanifa, a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda.
This incident is part of a growing pattern of deadly raids on the Nigerien military by militant factions.
Just a day before, on Sunday, militants struck a military outpost at Eknewan, near Niger’s border with Mali. That assault was claimed by the Islamic State group, which alleged it killed around 40 soldiers, though AFP has not independently confirmed the toll.
The river brigade attacked on Monday operates in a volatile zone along the Niger River, close to the Benin border — an area repeatedly targeted in the past, according to the army.
In a prior clash in March, one soldier was killed in Falmey. In response to the surge in violence, authorities last week imposed a motorcycle ban in several border regions near Nigeria and Benin, citing concerns over militants using motorbikes for swift attacks.
The persistent threat posed by jihadist groups was one of the justifications the Nigerien military gave for staging a coup in 2023.
