Gunfire heard near military base in Niger capital: residents to AFP

Gunfire was heard overnight near a military base at the international airport in Niger's capital Niamey, which had been attacked twice this year by jihadists, residents told AFP Saturday.

"There is heavy gunfire and explosions at Base 101 in Niamey," one local resident told AFP, a report confirmed by several other witnesses.

Niger has been ruled for three years by a military junta that has struggled to contain jihadist violence, which has blighted the west African country for around a decade.

Niamey airport has been targeted twice this year by jihadists, first by the Islamic State in the Sahel (EIS) in January, then again in late June by their rivals the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), the Sahel branch of Al-Qaeda.

Twenty assailants were killed and four soldiers wounded in the January assault, authorities said at the time.

General Abdourahamane Tiani, head of the military regime that emerged from a coup in July 2023, spoke in January of "a flaw in the system" that "enabled the attack", whose "objective was to destroy all of the air capabilities" of the army.

In June, at least 11 soldiers and two civilians were killed, as well as 22 attackers, according to the defence ministry. Both attacks were repelled by the army.