Niger’s military regime on Tuesday reported the deaths of six soldiers and 31 individuals described as “terrorists” during clashes in a troubled region afflicted by insurgents associated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
The Defense Ministry has disclosed that confrontations occurred between the armed forces and “terrorist elements” in the western Tillaberi region bordering Burkina Faso from Sunday to Monday.
Eighteen soldiers were also injured, it added in a statement.
Tillaberi is located in the expansive and volatile “three borders” region encompassing Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso, where extremist insurgents have been conducting attacks for an extended period.
The most recent conflict, which commenced in a zone to the northwest of Tera town, comes after a series of fatal assaults in the region over the past few weeks.
At the beginning of this month, Niger observed three days of national mourning following a suspected jihadist attack that claimed the lives of 29 soldiers, marking the deadliest incident since the military assumed power in July.
Niger is grappling with two distinct jihadist insurgencies: one stemming from the ongoing conflict in neighboring Nigeria, affecting its southeast, and the other resulting from an offensive by militants infiltrating from Mali and Burkina Faso in the west.
On July 26, when military leaders ousted the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, they cited the worsening security conditions in the nation as their rationale.
