Niger: around fifty soldiers killed in terrorist attack
Early on Sunday, May 25, hundreds of jihadists on motorbikes launched a brutal assault on a base housing Niger’s National Guard and Special Forces.
Abdourahamane Tiani
Taken by surprise and outnumbered, the initial security units were forced to retreat, leaving the elite brigade to face the attackers alone. In the intense clashes that followed, the commander of the special unit was killed, along with nearly fifty of his men.
Several military vehicles were either destroyed or seized by the assailants. By the time reinforcements arrived, the damage had already been done—their efforts were limited to evacuating the wounded and assessing the scale of the losses.
On Monday morning, the bodies of the fallen soldiers were laid to rest in Tahoua during an official ceremony attended by Army Chief of Staff General Moussa Salaou Barmou.
The attack was claimed by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), a group active in the border region between Niger and northern Mali. In a similar assault in September 2024, 38 Nigerien soldiers were killed in Eknewane.