Niger: Jihadist Massacre at Airport Leaves at Least 13 Dead

Aéroport International Diori Hamani de Niamey (NIM), Barke11, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 | Jihad Watch

An al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group has claimed responsibility for Thursday’s deadly assault on Niger’s main international airport in the capital, Niamey, where at least 11 soldiers and two civilians were killed. The attack came just six months after another major jihadist assault targeted the same high-security location.

According to Niger’s Defence Ministry, security forces successfully repelled the attack, killing 22 militants during the operation. Heavy gunfire erupted early in the morning and continued for several hours around Diori Hamani International Airport, prompting a large-scale military deployment in the area.

Later in the day, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the Sahel region, issued a statement claiming it had carried out a "suicide attack" targeting both the airport and a nearby military base.

Niger has been under military rule since the 2023 coup, with the ruling junta continuing to face mounting challenges in curbing jihadist violence that has plagued the West African nation for more than a decade.

(This Article was originally published by Jihad Watch)