NIGER: Islamist suicide bombers attack an army barracks in Agadez in northern Niger, killing at least 21 soldiers and injuring 16 more

Record ID: 236085

  • Title: NIGER: Islamist suicide bombers attack an army barracks in Agadez in northern Niger, killing at least 21 soldiers and injuring 16 more
  • Date: 23rd May 2013
  • Summary: BLOOD STAINS ON GROUND
  • Embargoed: 7th June 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Niger
  • Country: Niger
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVADG5R8FCI02C3FML50OCG9UJJ7
  • Story Text: Islamist suicide bombers struck an army barracks and a French-run uranium mine in Niger on Thursday (May 23), killing 21 people and wounding dozens more in attacks that showed militant violence spreading in West Africa.
    The coordinated dawn assaults on Areva's mine at Arlit and the military base in Agadez were claimed by the MUJWA militant group in retaliation for a French-led offensive this year against Islamist insurgents in neighbouring Mali.
    The attacks suggested Malian groups, despite the French campaign, remained capable of complex strikes against high-profile targets in remote parts of the vast Sahara.
    Nigerien soldiers living at the barracks in Agadez secured the area after a gunbattle that killed at least 20 of their comrades and injured 16 when suicide bombers attacked their barracks. Three Islamist militants were also killed.
    A 14-year old girl living nearby was also injured in the gunbattle that ensued, when a stray bullet hit her in her leg.
    After a fierce gunbattle, security forces restored calm but, more than 12 hours after the raid, one Islamist was still holding several military cadets hostage inside the barracks.
    Defence Minister Mamadou Karidjo arrived at Agadez airport in the afternoon and told state radio that the situation was under control.
    Further north in Arlit, at least 14 civilians were injured and two Islamists killed in a car bomb attack at Areva's Somair mine, the largest in the country, the minister said. Areva later said one of its injured staff had died in the assault.
    Niger officials said the grinding unit had been badly damaged at the Somair mine, which is an important part of France's energy supply chain. Niger provides around one-fifth of the uranium for France's nuclear reactors.
    MUJWA and al Qaeda's north African wing AQIM had pledged to strike at French interests across the region after Paris launched a ground and air campaign in January which broke their 10-month grip over the northern two-thirds of Mali.
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