Nigerien soldiers reported killed in Boko Haram attack

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Around 10 Nigerien soldiers have been killed in an attack by the Boko Haram jihadist group in southeastern Niger, local sources told AFP, with the assault confirmed by state media.

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The attack occurred Friday close to N’Guigmi, a garrison town in the Diffa marshy Lake Chad region shared also by Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad and where Boko Haram has several camps, they said.

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“There were around 10 soldiers killed in this attack,” a local resident of N’Guigmi told AFP on condition of anonymity for their security.

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“There were deaths among the attacks” too, he said, adding that the army was sweeping the area.

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Other residents spoke of the attack in social media posts and said 10 soldiers were killed as well as four national guard personnel.

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Niger’s state ANP news agency did not give a toll, but confirmed there were deaths “following an attack by members of the Boko Haram cult on the outskirts of N’Guigmi town”.

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It reported that Diffa’s governor, General Mahamadou Ibrahim, went to N’Guigmi to oversee the burial of security force members killed in the attack.

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The Boko Haram jihadist insurgency, which erupted in 2009 in the region, has killed several thousand people over recent years and displaced millions in northeast Nigeria alone.

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The violence has spilled into Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the jihadist groups.

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The alliance had suffered setbacks in recent years after Niger withdrew following the military takeover in the West African country.

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AFP

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