Heavy gunfire near airport in Niger capital
Niger has been ruled for three years by a military junta, which has struggled to contain jihadist violence that has rocked the west African country for around a decade.
Niger has been ruled for three years by a military junta, which has struggled to contain jihadist violence that has rocked the west African country for around a decade. (File photo)
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ABIDJAN — Gunfire rang out for several hours near the airport in Niger's capital, Niamey, early on Thursday, residents said, five months after jihadists staged a large attack on the sensitive site.
Niger has been ruled for three years by a military junta, which has struggled to contain jihadist violence that has rocked the west African country for around a decade.
The firing had stopped by mid-morning, but residents said a large military presence had been put in place at the airport.
Niger's military authorities have yet to comment on the incident.
"I heard the first shots around 6 o'clock (0500 GMT). The shooting was coming from the airport entrance," a resident told AFP by telephone.
He said firing went on for several hours.
Another resident confirmed the gunfire was coming from the airport entrance, where there is a security checkpoint.
The checkpoint is a few hundred metres (yards) from the airport entrance, where armed police were checking vehicles and people's identity papers.
Later, another resident said assailants were in the Route Tchanga neighbourhood near the airport, where local people were trying to chase them away.
"No more shots can be heard in the airport; the situation is under control," the motorbike-taxi driver said.
"The military went down into certain neighbourhoods around the airport to sweep the area; they are receiving help from residents who are hunting down bandits with sticks and machetes," he said.
He said that "when we got near the airport, the soldiers explained that it was not possible to take the plane".
'Flaw in the system'
In January, the Diori Hamani International Airport in Niamey and an adjoining military drone base were targeted in an attack claimed by the Islamic State in the Sahel (EIS).
Nigerien armed forces and their Russian allies repelled the strike.
The attack was a rare development, since violence had previously been contained to other parts of the vast Sahel country.
Twenty assailants were killed and four soldiers wounded in the January 29 assault, authorities said.
The site is sensitive; between December and January, a large cargo of concentrated uranium from the key producer was blocked at the airport while waiting for export.
No movement of that cargo has since been identified.
The January attack has "undoubtedly proven the threat posed by the EIS and its growing capabilities", researcher Wassim Nasr said in a study by the Soufan Center published on Wednesday.
The head of Niger's ruling junta, Abdourahamane Tiani, who seized power in a coup in 2023, said on state television "a flaw in the system" had "enabled" the January attack, whose aim, he said, was to "destroy" the army's air capabilities.
In recent weeks, the authorities have started tearing down thousands of illegally built homes next to the airport in what they said were efforts to counter a "terrorist" risk.
They alleged the shantytowns had been infiltrated by jihadists.
The airport perimeter fence has been extended, and more than 350 security cameras installed inside and outside the perimeter.
Decade of violence
"The fact that the attack once again started in the morning and lasted a long time indicates that the measures taken have not been effective so far," Hasret Kargin, of intelligence firm Mintel World, told AFP.
"The ease with which these attacks are carried out also suggests that the assailants are able to obtain information from the inside," he said.
Kargin also said that the EIS had carried out new attacks in Niger on Wednesday and Thursday.
It "is the first group that comes to mind for this attack as well," he added.
Niger and its fellow junta-ruled allies in west Africa, Burkina Faso and Mali, have faced a decade of violence attributed to jihadists.
Tiani came to power after toppling democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum.
He has struggled to stop the deadly attacks by groups affiliated with the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda.
In April, the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) and the Tuareg-dominated Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) carried out an unprecedented assault against the ruling junta in Mali.
Niger has moved away from former colonial power France and sought support from other partners, such as Iran, Turkey and Russia.