Unidentified gunmen have killed 16 soldiers in a car bomb attack on a military camp in western Nigernear the border with Mali, local residents and security sources said on Tuesday.
The raid occurred on Monday afternoon near the town of Inates, in the same region where an ambush by the West African branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant armed group (ISIL, also known as ISIS) killed 28 soldiers in May.
Zakari Insa, the brother of one of the soldiers killed in Monday’s attack, and Souley Marou, a local villager, both said that 16 soldiers had died.
Two security sources confirmed the death toll, and one of them said about a dozen vehicles had been stolen. Armed fighters have previously launched attacks using vehicles stolen in previous raids.
Niger hosts an African Union summit from July 6-9, less than 200km away in the capital Niamey.
In the run-up, the European Union has been training Nigerien forces to respond to armed attacks.
Global News 
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