Results tagged “Niger”
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Mokhtar Belmokhtar said that his Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade carried out yesterday's suicide attacks in Niger along with the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa. Belmokhtar also promised more attacks in Niger if the government does not withdraw its military from Mali.
The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa claimed credit for a pair of suicide attacks. In one attack, five members of a suicide assault team assaulted a barracks in Agadez, killing 18 soldiers and a civilian. In another attack, a suicide bomber attacked workers at a uranium mine in Arlit.
France is sending special forces to protect the Areva uranium mining sites at Imouraren and Arlit. France derives about 20 percent of the raw material for its nuclear reactors from Niger. Some French forces are said to have arrived in the past week.
President Mahamadou Issoufou said Niger is ready to help Mali retake areas seized by Islamists this spring. Issoufou and Malian president Dioncounda Traore called on the UN to endorse a planned military intervention in Mali, and urged Malian rebel movements to lay down their arms, sever ties with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and recognize Malian boundaries.
Gunmen kidnapped five aid workers and their driver in southeast Niger and headed for the Agadez region near the Malian border. Arabic was spoken by the gunmen. Al Qaeda-linked militants are suspected in the kidnapping.
The Justice Minister called for joint patrols with Nigerian forces along Niger's southern border to keep al Qaeda-linked insurgents out of Niger. Currently 3,000 Nigerien troops are deployed near the border with Mali, Algeria, and Libya, and special forces monitor the border with Nigeria. Five Boko Haram fighters were recently arrested in Zinder.
Security officials say militants from the al Qaeda-linked Boko Haram in Nigeria are transitting through Niger on their way to fight with Ansar Dine in Mali. Officials are concerned about the threat of radical Islam as Niger suffers increasing pressure from regional turmoil. US special forces are helping train Nigerien troops.
The European Union deployed a Capacity Building Mission team to Niger to help combat the spread of Islamist terror groups in the Sahel region. The 50-man-strong EUCAP team is described as a civilian mission, but includes military advisers.
The European Union will send 50 experts to Niger to train its security forces to counter the emerging al Qaeda threat in Africa's Sahel region. Niger, a major uranium exporter, needs assistance securing its border with Mali, where Islamists have seized half the country.
The military killed three al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb fighters during clashes near the Libyan border. The military released 59 "young fighters" who belong to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Police suspect al Qaeda was involved in a bombing at a Peoples Democratic Party rally in Suleja two weeks ago that killed 11 people. Police found information on a suspect's cell phone that may link him to the terror group.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed it is responsible for the kidnapping of two Frenchman in the capital of Niamey. The two men were killed during a raid by French commandos along the Niger-Mali border.
One hundred French military anti-terror specialists have landed in Niger to aid authorities in freeing five French nationals abducted last Thursday. The soldiers entered Niger after a 25-year absence as officials gave consent for the French to deploy "personnel" and "aircraft" to free the hostages. This deployment comes after a French government spokesman pledged that "France will do everything to free the hostages."
The French nuclear firm Areva and construction company Vinci are pulling their foreign staff from northern Niger in response to the suspected Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb kidnappings. France believes the five hostages have been moved from Niger to Mali.
Five French nationals and two African nationals working for the nuclear company Areva and a subcontracter of the French construction company Vinci have been kidnapped from their companies staff compound in the northern town of Arlit. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb-linked mercenaries are being blamed for the abductions. Taureg rebels have kidnapped French workers in the past and AQIM has pledged to step up their abductions of French nationals.
Photos have been released of the French and Algerian nationals abducted by elements of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb near Inabangaret, Niger. Michel Germaneau is retired and president of an association in northern Niger. Ouaghi Abidin is from Tamanrasset, the location of the new joint anti-terror headquarters for Saharan states. AQIM has not yet confirmed the abduction.
A French tourist and his Algerian driver have been kidnapped by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in northern Niger, near the border of Mali and Algeria. They were seized near Tiguidan Tessoun. The tourist had not declared his travel itinerary to security forces. The French government is investigating the abduction.
Suspected Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb fighters have attacked a Nigerian military outpost along the border with Mali. At least five Nigerian soldiers were killed and wounded along with three assailants in the attack in the Tilwa Banibangou area before the fighters retreated into Mali.
President Mamadou Tandja has been overthrown in a coup by a group dubbed the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD). The men, presented as military officers, seized Tandja at his weekly cabinet meeting and have taken him to a nearby military barracks in the capital, Niamey. The coup risks further undermining the political authority needed to fight against Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Clashes near the Mali border between Niger authorities and an unidentified group have left nine gunmen, seven Niger soldiers, and a civilian dead. The authorities captured vehicles, guns, and ammunition. The clashes come days after two gunmen were killed by authorities. The crackdown on rebels and bandits was prompted by the attempted kidnapping of six Saudi tourists that left three dead.
