A coordinated attack by hundreds of armed men killed 34 Nigerien soldiers and wounded 14 more in the western town of Banibangou, near the volatile tri-border region with Mali and Burkina Faso, Niger’s Ministry of Defense confirmed Thursday.
According to an official statement read on state television, the attackers arrived aboard eight vehicles and more than 200 motorbikes, executing what authorities described as a “cowardly and barbaric” assault. The army responded with force, reportedly killing dozens of the assailants, whom the government identified as terrorists. Banibangou lies at the heart of the Sahel’s most dangerous zone, where jihadist groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State operate with increasing impunity.
The region has seen a surge in violence following military coups in Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso — all now ruled by regimes that have expelled Western forces and allied with Russia-backed mercenary groups.
In response to the attack, the Nigerien army deployed reinforcements and launched search operations by land and air to locate the perpetrators. This latest massacre underscores the deteriorating security situation in the Sahel, where extremist violence continues to escalate despite — or some say because of — shifting alliances and the absence of traditional international military support.