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Niger military operation kills 120 ‘terrorists’: official
NIAMEY, Feb 22, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – A joint operation by Nigerien and French
troops in southwest Niger killed 120 “terrorists” and seized bomb-making
equipment and vehicles, the country’s defence ministry said Friday.
As of February 20 “120 terrorists have been neutralised” in the operation
in the vast Tillaberi region near the border with Mali and Burkina Faso, the
statement said, adding there had been no losses among Nigerien or French
troops.
Niger’s defence minister Issoufou Katambe praised the “cooperation… in
the battle against terrorism,” according to the statement.
Authorities in the restive Tillaberi region have ramped up security
restrictions, closing markets and banning motorbike traffic after attacks by
jihadist groups over December and January killed 174 Nigerien soldiers.
A state of emergency has been in place in the region for the past two
years.
Since 2015, Niger has struggled against a wave of jihadist attacks near
the borders with Mali and Burkina Faso in the west, exacerbating needs in the
Tillaberi and Tahoua regions, where nearly 78,000 people have been displaced.
France this year said it would boost its military presence in the troubled
west African region by deploying 600 fresh troops to its 4,500-strong
operation.
BSS/AFP/SSS/0903 hrs