NIAMEY, Niger
Niger's junta on Wednesday
said 17 of its soldiers were killed in an ambush by insurgents, the deadliest
attack since a July 26 coup whose leaders have cited persistent insecurity as a
justification for deposing the civilian government.FILE - Burkina Faso (R) and Niger (L) Army soldiers attend the annual US-led Flintlock military training organised by the Internationl Counter-Terrorism Academy in Jacqueville.
The ambush took place on
Tuesday about 60 km (40 miles) from the capital Niamey, in a southwestern area
that borders Burkina Faso, the defense ministry said, adding that 100 attackers
it referred to as "terrorists" were killed.
"The swift reaction of
the soldiers and the air-land response at the scene of the skirmish enabled the
enemy to be dealt with," the ministry said.
The Economic Community of West
African States, the main regional bloc, said it had learned with sadness of
various attacks by armed groups that had led to the death of
"several" soldiers. It called on Niger's military leaders to restore
constitutional order so they could focus on security, which it said had become
increasingly fragile since the coup.
Niger, like other countries in
West Africa's Sahel region, has been struggling for years to contain an
insurgency by groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State that have killed
thousands, forced millions to flee their homes and caused food shortages.
The perceived inability of
civilian governments to overcome the problem has been one of the factors in a
string of coups in the region, although in the case of Niger the main drivers
of the army takeover were internal politics.
Members of the presidential
guard, headed by Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, deposed President Mohamed Bazoum
and are still detaining him, defying pressure from the United Nations, ECOWAS
and Western powers to reinstate him.
While Tchiani said the
takeover was necessary to quell the insurgency, analysts say attacks, though
still frequent, had been falling under Bazoum, who had tried to engage with
Islamists and rural communities where they are rooted.
Niger hosts U.S., French,
German and Italian troops as part of international efforts to combat the
insurgency, under agreements with the now deposed civilian government.
The future of those foreign
contingents is unclear, with the junta using vitriolic anti-French rhetoric and
resisting pressure from ECOWAS, the U.N. and Western countries to negotiate a
way out of the current situation.
The United States said on
Wednesday that the new U.S. ambassador to Niger would arrive in Niamey as a
signal of Washington's continued engagement with the situation, although it
declined to specify when.
Niger has extra strategic
importance to global powers due to its uranium and oil deposits.
Insecurity remains a major
problem across the southwest, near the border with Mali and Burkina Faso, both
of which also have army governments that took control through coups.
On the Malian side, the
departure of French troops last year left a security vacuum that the Islamists
have exploited.
Mali's junta brought in
mercenaries from Russia's Wagner group, who have been accused of executing
civilians and committing other grave human rights abuses. Wagner says it works
lawfully.
Niger's coup leaders have revoked
a raft of military agreements with France, although Paris shrugged this off by
saying that it did not recognize them as legitimate authorities.
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