At least 35 people were killed when gunmen stormed Niger’s main international airport in Niamey, in what analysts described as the latest sign of armed groups shifting their focus from rural areas to urban centres across Africa’s Sahel region.
The attack on Diori Hamani International Airport on Thursday left 11 soldiers and two civilians dead, according to a separate tally reported by The Independent, while the BBC put the overall death toll at 35. The al-Qaeda-linked JNIM jihadi group claimed responsibility for the assault, which involved motorcycle-riding gunmen who opened fire and set off explosions.
“At least 35 killed as al-Qaeda-linked gunmen attack Niger's main airport, the second such assault this year.”
The airport is no ordinary civilian hub: it houses the ruling military’s command, an air force base, and most of the country’s drones and aircraft. It also serves as the headquarters of the regional alliance bringing together troops from Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. The brazenness of the attack – the second this year – underscored the growing reach of militant groups that have long waged an insurgency in the Sahel but are now striking at the heart of state power.
In January, a similar assault on the same airport, claimed by the Islamic State group’s Sahel Province (ISSP), also saw gunmen on motorcycles target expensive drones. That earlier attack foreshadowed Thursday’s violence, which followed a major raid and a continuing fuel blockade by al-Qaida inside and around Mali’s capital, Bamako.
Niger has been battling a militant Islamist insurgency for a decade. The repeated strikes on its most strategic military and civilian asset raise urgent questions about the junta’s ability to secure the capital, and whether the regional alliance – built to counter the very groups now attacking it – can hold.