At least 10 troops were killed in an ambush by a group of what the military ministry on Saturday described as armed terrorists in southwest Niger, not far from the Mali border.
According to a ministry statement, 16 individuals are still missing and 13 soldiers were hurt in the attack on Friday, so the death toll could increase.
The troops “came under a complicated ambush by a number of armed terrorists,” the ministry said, referring to Islamist groups, while they were on patrol in the northern section of the Banibangou province.
The statement did not clarify how many assailants were slain, only that they were killed during the fighting.
The incident happened in Tillaberi, a huge territory in western Niger that borders Burkina Faso and Mali, two nations that have seen Islamist insurgency. Since 2017, armed groups with ties to al-Qaida and the Islamic State have frequently attacked Tillaberi.
The area is close to the Tahoua region, where last week, armed gunmen raided a camp sheltering migrants from nearby Mali.
That attack, which a local official claimed was carried out by “heavily armed terrorists” on motorcycles who escaped back into Mali, claimed nine lives.
According to the United Nations, Tahoua and Tillaberi are home to more than 61,000 Malian refugees.
Only 3,000 French troops will be stationed in the unrest-plagued Sahel area, in Niger and Chad, where Islamist organisations are active, following the withdrawal of French forces from Mali last year and a pullout from Burkina Faso that is planned to take place soon.
The participating nations were all formerly French colonies.
