Niger officials and soldiers killed in ambush near Nigeria

Locals said the four were visiting Diffa, a region that has suffered a series of deadly attacks by Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa (ISWAP) militants since 2015.

The Diffa region lies on the shores of Lake Chad, which borders Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.

The swampy 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 water levels have dropped, offering “multiple crossings from Nigeria,” allowing ISWAP fighters to attack travelers on the main road, where the ambush took place this week, the army said.

Since the incident, regional authorities have imposed an indefinite ban on vehicles, “especially off-road vehicles,” from traveling without military escort on the road most subject to attacks – a 70-kilometer stretch connecting the towns of Diffa and Maine Sorao.

A former local official told AFP that the attackers “mainly target top-brand off-road vehicles, which they resell in Nigeria.”

In the western Tillaberi region, near the border with Burkina Faso and Mali, Niger’s armed forces are fighting other jihadist groups with links to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

On Saturday, several hundred people demonstrated in Tillaberi, calling on Niger’s ruling military junta to set up “rapid reaction forces” and an “air base” and to recruit civilian “volunteers” to help combat attacks on 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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