Nigerien officials, soldier killed in ambush near Nigeria

Residents said the four were traveling to Diffa, a region that has suffered a series of deadly attacks by Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa (ISWAP) fighters since 2015.

The Diffa region is located on the shores of Lake Chad, bordered by Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.

Its marshy islands have become hideouts for armed jihadist groups.

The Komadougou Yobe River, which forms a natural border between Niger and Nigeria, had in the past helped protect Diffa from cross-border attacks.

But the water level dropped, providing “multiple crossing points from Nigeria”, allowing ISWAP fighters to attack travelers on the main road, where the ambush took place. this week, the army said.

Since this incident, regional authorities have banned vehicles “in particular 4x4s” for an indefinite period from traveling without military escort on the road most prone to attacks, a 70-kilometer stretch linking the town of Diffa to the town of Maine. Sorao.

A former local official told AFP that the ambushes “particularly target off-road vehicles from major brands, which they resell in Nigeria.”

In the western Tillabéri region, near the border with Burkina Faso and Mali, Niger's armed forces are fighting other jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

On Saturday, several hundred people demonstrated in Tillaberi, asking Niger's ruling military junta to set up “rapid intervention units” and an “air base”, and to recruit civilian “volunteers” to help suppress attacks against the local population.

The junta, which seized power in a coup in July 2023, had complained that elected civilian President Mohamed Bazoum was not doing enough to stop the attacks.

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