Six soldiers killed in attack on Niger official: governor

Six soldiers were killed and three wounded in an ambush on a convoy escorting a senior Niger official near the border with Burkina Faso, the governor of the region told AFP. 

NIGER GOVERNOR ESCAPES

The prefect of the Bankilare district was travelling to the main city when his convoy fell into the ambush, said the governor of the Tillaberi region, Tidjani Ibrahim Katiella. The governor himself escaped unhurt, he added.

The soldiers killed and wounded were members of the national guard. 

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Bankilare borders Seno province in northeast Burkina Faso, part of the troubled three-borders region of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, struggling with a deadly surge in jihadist violence.

MOSTLY CIVILIAN

While this is the first attack of its kind against an official convoy, the region has been targeted since the beginning of the year by jihadist groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

Most of the attacks to date have targeted civilians.

On Monday, jihadists killed three officers and wounded seven more in an attack on a police post overnight in the Tillaberi region.

© Agence France-Presse