Heavy security has been deployed around the main airport in Niger’s capital, Niamey, after overnight gunfire and explosions.
The shooting and detonations began shortly after midnight on Wednesday, according to residents of a neighbourhood near the airport, which is next to Base Aérienne 101, a military base previously used by US and then Russian troops.
Calm returned about an hour later, the residents told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Videos filmed by local people showed streaks of light in the sky and the sound of loud explosions, while other images showed flames several metres high and charred cars.
Today, a heavy security presence blocked the perimeter of the airport and, in particular, access to the military base on the site. But in most parts of Niamey, people were going about their lives normally.
A source with the Togolese airline Asky told the Guardian UK that gunshots had made several holes in the fuselage of its two planes on the tarmac of Niamey airport. Staff were at their hotel at the time but remained stranded in the country.
“They destroyed both aircraft … They left evidence at the scene,” the source said.
A spokesperson for Air Côte d’Ivoire, Yacouba Fofana, confirmed that one of the airline’s aircraft had also been hit. “A communique is being prepared [about it],” he said.
It remained unclear who had fired the shots or whether there were any casualties.
Satellite images published early today showed areas with signs of scorched earth near the airport’s runway.
Authorities in Niger, a junta-run country regularly hit by jihadist violence, have yet to comment on the situation.
Several observers indicated it was probably a jihadist strike. The country is grappling with armed groups linked to Islamic State and al-Qaida affiliates who have been launching attacks on the tri-border region with Mali and Burkina Faso in particular.
“Over the last few days, there have been warnings of an imminent risk of an attack, but it’s not clear if it was going to come from the two main groups active in the country,” an analyst at the consultancy Control Risks, Beverly Ochieng told AFP. “But they have been building their presence in areas near Niamey.”
Ochieng said the incident could align with the wider cause claimed by the al-Qaida-affiliate Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) “to continue targeting [the] security establishment, high-profile establishment as a way of delegitimising the juntas”.
Last weekend, JNIM claimed responsibility for destroying an army vehicle with an improvised explosive device several kilometres east of Niamey.
In July 2023, Niger’s presidential guard, led by Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani, overthrew the democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, marking the seventh successful coup in west and central Africa in three years at that point. There has been at least one successful coup and two failed attempts in the region since then.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Gen. Tchiani.
