Gunmen Attack Niger Airport, Killing 11 Soldiers and Two Civilians

Gunfire and explosions struck Diori Hamani International Airport in Niamey on Thursday, killing 11 soldiers and two civilians. The Al Qaeda-linked group JNIM said it carried out the assault. The airport serves as Niger’s main international facility and houses the country’s air force base along with most of its drones and aircraft.

It also functions as headquarters for the regional military alliance formed by Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. Thursday’s attack marked the second strike at the airport this year. In January, gunmen on motorcycles stormed the same facility and targeted expensive drones in an assault claimed by the Islamic State group’s Sahel Province, known as ISSP.

JNIM’s operation followed a major raid and ongoing fuel blockade conducted by Al Qaeda-linked fighters inside and around Bamako, Mali’s capital. Both JNIM and ISSP escalated attacks across the Sahel last year as the rival groups compete for territory and influence.

The three Sahel states of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali are ruled by military juntas that came to power through coups and later shifted security partnerships from Western governments to Russia.

Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim, deputy project director for the International Crisis Group, said the Thursday attack carried less weight than the January operation but still served a purpose for JNIM. “JNIM in Niger is trying to mark its territory. This is a message to the government but also to IS,” he said.

Wassim Nasr, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, described Niger as contested ground. “Niger is a territory of competition between them,” he said.