Sustained gunfire and explosions rang out early Saturday across several areas of Niger’s capital, including the airport and near the presidency, in what four sources told Reuters was an attack by mutinous soldiers. A West Africa-based security source said the presidential guard was repelling mutineers at the palace, AFP reported.

Gunfire and explosions were earlier reported around Niger’s capital Niamey, including around a military base near the city’s airport, which has been attacked twice this year by jihadists.

National television service was briefly cut in Niger on Saturday after a night of gunfire and explosions reported by residents of the capital Niamey. TV broadcasts resumed on the main state-owned channel by late morning local time but made no mention of the unrest that witnesses recounted.

Several social media posts also reported shooting and explosions in the city, particularly in the administrative area where the presidential palace and national television station are located.

Videos online showed armoured vehicles deployed to reinforce the neighbourhood near the airport.

Rival jihadist groups

Niger has been ruled for three years by a military junta that has struggled to contain jihadist violence, which has blighted the west African country for around a decade.

Niamey airport has been targeted twice this year by jihadists, first by the Islamic State in the Sahel (EIS) in January, then in late June by their rivals the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), the Sahel branch of al-Qaeda.

The jihadist groups not only target civilians and the military but are also struggling for dominance over each other in the Sahel, and especially in Niger.

Twenty assailants were killed and four soldiers wounded in the January assault, authorities said at the time.

General Abdourahamane Tiani, head of the military regime that emerged from a coup in July 2023, spoke in January of “a flaw in the system” that “enabled the attack” whose “objective was to destroy all of the air capabilities” of the army.

In June, at least 11 soldiers and two civilians were killed, as well as 22 attackers, according to the defence ministry. Both attacks were repelled by the army.

The three countries quit the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc, turned their backs on traditional Western partners in the fight against jihadist violence, especially France, and sought closer ties with Russia – without, however, managing to restore security.

Air Force Base 101, located within the international airport complex, notably houses the headquarters of Niamey’s Russian Africa Corps partners, as well as the command of the unified force of the Alliance of Sahel States, of which Niger is a member with Burkina Faso and Mali.

The site is sensitive. Between December and January, it hosted a large shipment of uranium concentrate, which was held up while awaiting export. No movement of the shipment has been identified since.

Source: AFP