NIAMEY (Reuters) - Gunmen killed at least 17 Nigerien troops in an ambush near the Malian border, where several jihadist groups are active, and another 11 soldiers are missing, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.

The attack on Tuesday occurred near the town of Tongo Tongo, where fighters from an Islamic State affiliate killed four U.S. special forces and four Nigerien soldiers in an ambush in October 2017, spokesman Abdourahamane Zakaria told Reuters.

Zakaria did not identify the perpetrators of the attack, which is one of the deadliest against the military in Niger’s west in recent years.

Jihadists, including affiliates of al Qaeda and Islamic State, have stepped up attacks on military and civilian targets across West Africa’s Sahel region this year, particularly along the porous borders between Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.

Niger also faces a threat in its southeast from Boko Haram and a splinter group affiliated with Islamic State, which are both based in Nigeria but frequently strike in neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon. </s> The bodies of 11 missing Niger soldiers have been discovered after an ambush by armed men killed 17 of their colleagues on patrol near the Mali border, security sources said.

"We have confirmation that the dead bodies of the eleven missing soldiers have been found, bringing the death toll to 28," a source said late Wednesday.

The military patrol was ambushed on Tuesday near the village of Tongo Tongo in the western Tillaberi region, sources said.

One of the military vehicles had set off an explosive device.

A source referred to what happened as a "terrorist attack".

Several troops were also injured and evacuated to the capital Niamey, a different source told AFP.

According to the news site Actuniger, a patrol of 52 Niger soldiers happened upon a group of heavily armed men at Baley Beri, near Tongo Tongo. Heavy fighting ensued, lasting more than two hours.

Twenty-two soldiers made it back to their base at Ouallam in three vehicles, while the rest were unaccounted for, it said, citing local and security sources.

This is the same region where four American and five Niger soldiers were killed in a jihadist attack in October 2017.

Niger is one of a number of poor, fragile countries in the Sahel region that have been hit by a jihadist revolt.

Different jihadist groups operate in the country's west and north, and Boko Haram from Nigeria in its southeast.

The country is part of the so-called G5 Sahel group set up to manage a coordinated response to the jihadist insurgency. </s> The bodies of 11 Nigerian soldiers missing since Tuesday’s ambush have been discovered, bringing the death toll to 28.

Militants killed four US soldiers at the same place in 2017.

Niger and other countries in the Sahel have been facing a growing militant threat from several Islamist groups.

The Islamic State group has said it was behind the ambush but there has been no confirmation of this claim by the authorities.

Militants belonging to affiliates of al-Qaeda are also active in the region.

They are most active in neighbouring Mali, where French troops intervened in 2013 to prevent them from advancing on the capital, but they often stage cross-border raids.

How did the attack happen?

The soldiers were in pursuit of militants who attacked a high security prison 50km (30 miles) on Tuesday outside the capital, Niamey, a government spokesman told the BBC.

“One of the soldiers’ vehicles drove into a landmine and then the assailants started firing at our soldiers,” Mr Zakariyyah told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme on Tuesday.

It was initially reported that 17 soldiers had been killed in the ambush.

Mr Zakariyyah did not identify the perpetrators of the attack but said it happened near where US troops and five Niger soldiers were killed two years ago.

A search operation, aided by French and American troops, who have a base in Niger, continues.

Niger is part of a five nation anti-insurgency force operating in the Sahel. It includes Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Mauritania.

The G5 Sahel, as it is called, is backed by a 3,000-strong French force. BBC News </s> The bodies of 11 Nigerien soldiers missing since Tuesday's ambush have been discovered, bringing the death toll to 28.

Militants killed four US soldiers at the same place in 2017.

Niger and other countries in the Sahel have been facing a growing militant threat from several Islamist groups.

The Islamic State group has said it was behind the ambush but there has been no confirmation of this claim by the authorities.

Militants belonging to affiliates of al-Qaeda are also active in the region.

They are most active in neighbouring Mali, where French troops intervened in 2013 to prevent them from advancing on the capital, but they often stage cross-border raids.

How did the attack happen?

The soldiers were in pursuit of militants who attacked a high security prison 50km (30 miles) on Tuesday outside the capital, Niamey, a government spokesman told the BBC.

"One of the soldiers' vehicles drove into a landmine and then the assailants started firing at our soldiers," Mr Zakariyyah told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme on Tuesday.

It was initially reported that 17 soldiers had been killed in the ambush.

Without providing any evidence, the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack via its news agency Amaq. According to the statement, 40 were killed and injured, although for now the government has said that the death toll was 28.

Mr Zakariyyah did not identify the perpetrators of the attack but said it happened near where US troops and five Niger soldiers were killed two years ago.

A search operation, aided by French and American troops, who have a base in Niger, continues.

Niger is part of a five nation anti-insurgency force operating in the Sahel. It includes Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Mauritania.

The G5 Sahel, as it is called, is backed by a 3,000-strong French force.

Call to attack French allies

By Louise Dewast, BBC West Africa correspondent

This was the deadliest attack recorded in western Niger, where government troops and their international allies are fighting affiliates of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

Authorities say it was a complex attack in which the militants planted improvised explosive devices. Despite years of heavy deployments of French, US and UN forces, the region - including Niger - remains a tinderbox.

The group called the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), which has claimed responsibility for the attack, has recently been subject to counter-militancy operations, mainly led by the French, making large-scale attacks against government troops difficult.

For one expert on the region, Héni Nsaibia, a researcher at The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data group, this attack could be the result of French forces shifting its focus to central Mali, and to the recent hostage-release operation in Burkina Faso which required attention and assets.

He adds it could also be that militants are heeding the call of Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who in a recent audiovisual speech explicitly called on them to intensify attacks against France and its allies in the Sahel region.

The statement released on Thursday was issued by the central Islamic State but is being attributed to its affiliate in the region. It is believed to be just the second official claim - in the form of a statement - from ISGS in the region. </s> At least 23 civilians have been killed in attacks on villages in troubled central Mopti region of Mali by armed men, a local mayor and a Malian security source said on Monday.

"During Sunday, and overnight, in the villages of Bidi, Sankoro and Saran, armed men attacked civilians, killing 23 of them," Cheick Harouna Sankare, mayor of the neighboring town of Ouenkoro, told AFP.

"The situation is serious, the army needs to act to reassure the population," he said, adding that an emergency meeting had been called.

The death toll was confirmed to the AFP by a security source in Mali.

Local media outlets reported that the attackers were dressed as members of the Dogon group.

Sankara said the attackers headed to the Bidi village after the attack in Saran but some 300 residents had already been evacuated, Anadolu Agency reported.

Separately, 11 people died when an explosive device blew up near the central town of Koro close to the border with Burkina Faso, a local official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Ethnic tensions in the center of the country have surged since an extremist group led by preacher Amadou Koufa emerged in 2015.

The group recruit mainly from among the Fulani -- primarily cattle breeders and traders -- and they have clashed with the Dogon and Bambara -- traditionally sedentary farmers who have formed their own self-defense militias.

There has been a wave of mass killings this year, including the massacre of 41 people in two ethnic Dogon villages on June 17, according to a U.N. count.

And in March, 160 Fulani were killed in an attack on a village by suspected rival militiamen.

Unrest in the central region coincides with an ongoing terrorist campaign that the Mali government is struggling to contain despite 4,000 troops deployed by France under Operation Barkhane and the 15,000-strong Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) peacekeeping force of the U.N.

Separately, unidentified gunmen have killed 16 soldiers in an attack on a military camp in western Niger near the border with Mali, local residents and security sources said on Tuesday.

The raid occurred on Monday afternoon near the town of Inates, where militants are active, and in the same region where an ambush by Daesh's West African branch killed 28 soldiers in May.

Bandits on motorbikes carried out the assault with "two car bombs," a source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The volatile region is a major base where Nigerien soldiers are trained to serve in the MINUSMA region.

Niger hosts the African Union summit from July 6-9 less than 200 kilometers (125 miles) away in the capital Niamey. In the run-up, the European Union has been training Nigerien forces to respond to militant attacks.

Zakari Insa, the brother of one of the soldiers killed in Monday's attack, and Souley Marou, a local villager, both said 16 soldiers had died.

Two security sources confirmed the death toll, and one of them said about a dozen vehicles had been stolen. Terrorists have previously launched attacks using vehicles stolen in previous raids.

An army spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

Security has deteriorated in recent months across West Africa's Sahel region, a semi-arid strip of land south of the Sahara.

Militants loyal to Adnan Abu Waleed al-Sahrawi, the leader of Daesh in the Greater Sahara, operate along Mali's border with Burkina Faso and Niger.

Various insurgent groups operate in Niger's west and north, while Nigeria's Boko Haram is present in the southeast.

The country is part of the so-called G5 Sahel group set up to manage a coordinated response to the terrorist insurgency.

The U.S. has a big base for drones in the northern city of Agadez and Niger recently gave the Americans permission to arm their drones.

The French also have a military base near Niamey airport and another at Madama in the north.

Earlier this month, 18 Daesh terrorists were killed in a joint operation by U.S., French and Niger troops in the same area.

In 2017, they killed four members of U.S. Special Forces and four Nigerien soldiers in an ambush near the village of Tongo Tongo. </s> The bodies of 11 Nigerian soldiers missing since Tuesday's ambush have been discovered, bringing the death toll to 28.

Militants killed four US soldiers at the same place in 2017.

Niger and other countries in the Sahel have been facing a growing militant threat from several Islamist groups.

Militants belonging to affiliates of both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group are active in the region and are known to conduct cross-border raids.

They are most active in neighbouring Mali, where French troops intervened in 2013 to prevent them from advancing on the capital.

But no group has said it carried out the latest attack.
• Why the Sahara is terror's new front line
• US Niger ambush: How raft of failures ended in death
• Find out more about Niger

How did the attack happen?

The soldiers were in pursuit of militants who attacked a high security prison 50km (30 miles) on Tuesday outside the capital, Niamey, a government spokesman told the BBC.

"One of the soldiers' vehicles drove into a landmine and then the assailants started firing at our soldiers," Mr Zakariyyah told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme on Tuesday.

It was initially reported that 17 soldiers had been killed in the ambush.

Mr Zakariyyah did not identify the perpetrators of the attack but said it happened near where US troops and five Niger soldiers were killed two years ago.

A search operation, aided by French and American troops, who have a base in Niger, continues.

Niger is part of a five nation anti-insurgency force operating in the Sahel. It includes Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Mauritania.

The G5 Sahel, as it is called, is backed by a 3,000-strong French force.

This was the deadliest attack recorded in western Niger, where government troops and their international allies are fighting affiliates of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

Authorities say it was a complex attack in which the militants planted improvised explosive devices. Despite years of heavy deployments of French, US and UN forces, the region - including Niger - remains a tinderbox.

The group called the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara has recently been subject to counter-militancy operations, mainly led by the French, making large-scale attacks against government troops difficult.

For one expert on the region, Héni Nsaibia, a researcher at The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data group, this attack could be the result of French forces shifting its focus to central Mali, and to the recent hostage-release operation in Burkina Faso which required attention and assets.

He adds it could also be that militants are heeding the call of Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who in a recent audiovisual speech explicitly called on them to intensify attacks against France and its allies in the Sahel region. </s> 17 soldiers killed in Niger, 11 said missing after ambush

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Niger's defense ministry says 17 soldiers have been killed and 11 are missing after an ambush by jihadists.

The attack took place on Tuesday not far from the volatile border with Mali where Islamic extremists are known to operate.

A ministry statement says the soldiers came under attack by heavily armed assailants with explosives.

The attack took place about 45 kilometers (27 miles) from where an ambush in October 2017 killed four American soldiers and four soldiers from Niger. Their convoy was attacked by more than 100 extremists while searching for a high-level Islamic State group leader. </s> NIAMEY, Niger — Niger’s defense ministry says 17 soldiers have been killed and 11 are missing after an ambush by jihadists.

The attack took place on Tuesday not far from the volatile border with Mali where Islamic extremists are known to operate.

A ministry statement says the soldiers came under attack by heavily armed assailants with explosives.

The attack took place about 45 kilometers (27 miles) from where an ambush in October 2017 killed four American soldiers and four soldiers from Niger. Their convoy was attacked by more than 100 extremists while searching for a high-level Islamic State group leader.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> BAMAKO (Reuters) - Gunmen killed at least three Malian soldiers in an attack on a military post in the northeast on Sunday, security sources and a local official said, capping a week of violence that has stoked concerns about worsening security in the arid region.

The unknown assailants came before dawn and surrounded the post in the town of Menaka in Mali's remote desert near the border with Niger, killing three soldiers, a security source said. A local official said five were killed after a gunfire exchange that lasted 40 minutes.

An official Malian spokesman was not available to comment.

The scrubland of West Africa's Sahel region has been the scene of growing militant violence over the past year, some perpetrated by groups with links to Islamic State and al Qaeda who roam the vast desert stretches and cross international borders often without detection.

The deteriorating situation has drawn a growing international military response including from France and the United States aimed at restoring security in Mali and the wider Sahel that includes Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Chad.

French forces pushed back a northern Islamist insurgency in Mali in 2013, but since then attacks have spread further south towards the capital, Bamako, despite the presence of a U.N. peacekeeping mission.

On Saturday, a group of around 30 heavily armed fighters attacked a military camp in Soumpi, located in the center of the country near the southern boundary of Mali's Timbuktu region.

On Thursday, a landmine blew up a civilian passenger vehicle, again in the country's center, killing 26. The vehicle was passing through an area where militants loyal to Islamic State are known to operate.

Mali and its western neighbor Senegal plan to deploy 1,000 troops soon in an operation to pacify central Mali, but regional experts have raised concerns that military intervention will not solve a crisis in an impoverished rural region whose troubles have complex, local roots.
Militants kill at least 17 Niger Armed Forces troops in an ambush near the Malian border. Another 11 soldiers are missing; six others have been evacuated to a hospital. No group has claimed responsibility.