March 5 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Jihadist militiamen have looted and burned down a police station in Makalondi, in southwestern Niger, near the border with Burkina Faso, with no fatalities reported.
The militants arrived in jeeps at dusk on Saturday and attacked the policemen. After a few minutes of shooting, the agents withdrew due to the lesser firepower they had.
The militants looted and set fire to the police station and took a vehicle while the population remained hidden in their homes, reports the RFI radio station.
Special forces troops arrived on Sunday morning and reestablished control despite the mines and ambushes set by the jihadists to make it difficult for them to access the town.
Niger faces a terrorist threat in the west from Al Qaeda’s branch in Mali, the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (JNIM), and the Islamic State in the Sahel –formerly the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara ( ISGS)–.
Likewise, the Diffa region, bathed by Lake Chad, is the scene of relatively frequent attacks by Boko Haram and its splinter, the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA).
