Gunmen kill 12 soldiers in daring attack on their base

Gunmen kill 12 soldiers in daring attack on their base




The village is a few dozen kilometres from where militants killed four U.S. soldiers in an ambush on Oct. 4 that has thrown a spotlight on the U.S. counter-terrorism mission in Niger, which straddles a large expanse of the Sahara.

One of the attackers was killed in an exchange of fire, he added. A spokesman for Niger’s military said he could not confirm any details of the attack.

Several Islamist militant groups and well-armed ethnic militia are known to operate in the area near the border with Mali, and there have been at least 46 attacks recorded there since early least year.

However, security officials suspect a relatively new militant group called Islamic State in the Greater Sahara to have been behind many of them, including the ambush on the joint U.S.-Niger patrol. (Reuters)



Source:newsexpressngr.com