Armed men on motor-bikes kill 34 Niger soldiers, ministry says
NIAMEY: Several hundred armed men, many on motor-bikes, attacked a Niger army base near the border with Mali, leaving at least 34 soldiers dead and 14 wounded, the Defence Ministry said.
The attackers - described as 'mercenaries' by the ministry - used eight vehicles and more than 200 motor-bikes in the raid on the base in Bani-bangou on Thursday, according to the statement read out on state TV.
It did not say which group was responsible. Niger, like other countries in West Africa's Sahel region, is battling Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.
Troops carried out aerial and ground search operations to secure the area after the attack, the ministry said without going into more detail on the assault.
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Armed men on motor-bikes kill 34 Niger soldiers, ministry says
NIAMEY: Several hundred armed men, many on motor-bikes, attacked a Niger army base near the border with Mali, leaving at least 34 soldiers dead and 14 wounded, the Defence Ministry said. The attackers - described as 'mercenaries' by the ministry - used eight vehicles and more than 200 motor-bikes in the raid on the base in Bani-bangou on Thursday, according to the statement read out on state TV. It did not say which group was responsible. Niger, like other countries in West Africa's Sahel region, is battling Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State. Troops carried out aerial and ground search operations to secure the area after the attack, the ministry said without going into more detail on the assault.
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Militant attack on Niger Army base kills 34 soldiers
NIAMEY: Several hundred armed men, many on motor-bikes, attacked a Niger army base near the border with Mali, leaving at least 34 soldiers dead and 14 wounded, the Defence Ministry said. The attackers - described as 'mercenaries' by the ministry - used eight vehicles and more than 200 motor-bikes in the raid on the base in Bani-bangou on Thursday, according to the statement read out on state TV. It did not say which group was responsible. Niger, like other countries in West Africa's Sahel region, is battling Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State. Troops carried out aerial and ground search operations to secure the area after the attack, the ministry said without going into more detail on the assault.
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Kenyan court sentences two men to 30 years in prison for aiding 2019 hotel attack
Mohamed Abdi Ali attends a court session where he was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment after he was found guilty of aiding a 2019 attack by al Qaeda-linked militants at Dusit hotel that killed 21 people in 2019, at the Kahawa Law Courts, Nairobi, Kenya June 19, 2025. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi NAIROBI (Reuters) -A Kenyan court on Thursday sentenced two men to 30 years in prison for aiding a 2019 attack by militant members of the al Shabaab group on a hotel and office complex in Nairobi that killed 21 people. Hussein Mohammed Abdile and Mohamed Abdi Ali were convicted in May on charges of facilitation and conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism for helping the al Qaeda-linked Islamist group. They had pleaded not guilty. Al Shabaab regularly carries out attacks in Kenya to try to pressure the government to withdraw peacekeeping troops from Somalia, where al Shabaab is waging an insurgency to try to seize power. Prosecutors said Abdile and Ali helped two of the attackers obtain forged identity cards that allowed them to escape from a refugee camp and provided financial support. Abdile and Ali have 14 days to appeal their sentences. Delivering her ruling on Thursday, Judge Diana Mochache said that without their involvement, the attack may not have happened. "Without financiers, facilitators and sympathisers, terrorists cannot actualise their activities," Mochache said. In the January 2019 attack, several gunmen stormed the Dusit complex in Nairobi, triggering an assault and siege that lasted more than 12 hours. The Kenyan government said at the time that it had killed all the attackers. (Reporting by Humphrey Malalo and Vincent Mumo; Writing by Elias Biryabarema and George Obulutsa; Editing by Alexander Winning and Ed Osmond)
