Niger Says 18 IS Fighters Killed in Joint Operation with U.S.

Eighteen members of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara were killed in a joint operation by U.S., French and Niger troops near Niger's border with Mali, the defence ministry said Tuesday. 

The June 8-18 operation took place "in the northern border region of Tongo Tongo targeting a gang of ISGS terrorists implicated in an ambush on May 14," in which 28 Nigerien soldiers were killed, it said.

"The toll on the enemy side is: 18 terrorists neutralised, five terrorists, of whom three are Nigerien, taken prisoner."

There were "no human or material losses" during the operation, which was codenamed ACONIT, it said.

"Important materiel was recovered including equipment belonging to the Niger armed forces which were taken by the attackers after the ambush," the statement said.

In October 2017, the ISGS claimed responsibility for a raid which killed four U.S. soldiers and five Nigerien troops in the same region, a mere 20 kilometres from the Malian border.

On June 8, a U.S. army vehicle hit a landmine near the town of Ouallam, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of the capital Niamey, but there were no casualties.

The area is  near a major training camp where Nigerien soldiers are trained to serve in a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali. 

Late Tuesday, gunmen attacked a police station on the northern edge of the Niger capital Niamey, killing two policemen.