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Seven soldiers and 11 suspected jihadists have died in clashes in a troubled region of western Niger ahead of this weekend’s elections, the defense ministry said on Thursday.
An army patrol in the Taroun region, in the Tillabéri region, was ambushed on Monday morning by “heavily armed terrorists” traveling in motorcycles and other vehicles, he said in a press release, using a term that generally refers to jihadists.
The country, the poorest in the world according to the UN human development index, is due to hold presidential and legislative elections on Sunday.
The latest attack came less than two weeks after the massacre of nearly three dozen villagers in the southeast of the country.
The statement said seven soldiers died and two others and a civilian were wounded, while 11 attackers were killed, seven of them after the army launched a “spontaneous response”.
“Motorcycles and weapons were seized. Follow-up operations are underway in the region,” the statement said.
Map of Niger locating the Tillaberi region. By AFP (AFP) Tillaberi is located in the so-called three borders area, an area plagued by jihadists where the porous borders of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso converge.
Motorcycle trips have been banned there since January to prevent incursions by very mobile jihadists on two wheels.
Niger sees Sunday’s two-round ballot as a historic moment, putting the country on track for its first peaceful handover between leaders elected since independence from France 60 years ago.
President Mahamadou Issoufou, who was elected in 2011 after the country’s last coup in 2010, voluntarily resigns after two terms.
His designated successor, Mohamed Bazoum, 60, former Minister of the Interior and Foreign Affairs, is the pioneer in about thirty candidates.
Other prominent hopes are two former heads of state, Mahamane Ousmane and Salou Djibo.
Bazoum’s main rival, former Prime Minister Hama Amadou, 70, was barred last month from contesting the vote on the grounds that in 2017 he was given a 12-month sentence for alleged trafficking in babies – an accusation he describes as bogus.
In March, he was granted a presidential pardon as he saw his sentence.
Jihadist threat
Niger is hammered in the southwest by jihadists from neighboring Mali and in the south-east by jihadists from Nigeria, cradle of the ten-year insurgency launched by Boko Haram.
Support for t-shirts: Mohamed Bazoum, the candidate of the Nigerian Party for Democracy and Socialism, leads Sunday’s vote. By Issouf SANOGO (AFP) Four thousand people in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger died last year from jihadist violence and ethnic bloodshed sparked by Islamists, according to the UN.
On December 12, 34 villagers were massacred in In Toumour, in the south-eastern region of Diffa, on the eve of municipal and regional elections which had been repeatedly postponed due to insecurity.
The government insisted that the attack on Tillabéri would not hinder Sunday’s vote, for which 7.4 million people are registered.
The army will be massively deployed, authorities say.
“Sporadic attacks will not prevent the elections from taking place,” a spokesperson said.
The Dec. 12 attack triggered a three-day national mourning period, but the next day’s elections went smoothly, officials said.
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