At least 20 soldiers and one civilian were killed in an ambush by armed groups near the village of Tassia in western Niger, the Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday. The attack, which occurred close to the Burkina Faso border, also left nine soldiers wounded, prompting the Ministry to declare three days of national mourning starting Wednesday. The assailants, part of a coalition of armed groups, were not named in the official statement. However, the soldiers reportedly killed dozens of the militants in defense, and reinforcements have since been deployed to pursue the remaining attackers. Tassia is situated in Niger’s Tillaberi region, which has been dominated by militants linked to al-Qaeda and ISIS for nearly a decade. In March, a similar attack in the region left 23 Nigerien soldiers dead.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
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