Residents report heavy gunfire and explosions in Niger’s Tahoua city overnight, with calm later restored amid ongoing regional jihadist violence.
TAHOUA: Heavy gunfire and explosions were heard overnight in a city in southwest Niger, residents reported.
The incident occurred in Tahoua, a region bordering Nigeria that has long been plagued by jihadist violence.
A local resident told AFP that “heavy gunfire followed by explosions was heard around 3:00 am (0200 GMT).”
The resident added that unidentified assailants “arrived on motorcycles,” with exchanges of fire coming from the direction of the city’s airport and centre.
Another resident confirmed before dawn that “calm has returned, we can no longer hear gunfire.”
No casualty figures were available following the incident.
The attack comes just weeks after Niger’s main airport in the capital Niamey was targeted in an assault claimed by the Islamic State group.
Last week, a customs officer and at least three civilians were killed in an attack on a checkpoint near the Nigerian border in the same Tahoua region.
Niger has been led by a military junta since a July 2023 coup and faces a decade-long insurgency involving Al-Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates.
The Tahoua region is also known for armed banditry and smuggling routes for fuel, drugs and counterfeit pharmaceuticals.
