Niger says at least 10 soldiers killed in insurgent ambush

NIAMEY (Reuters) – At least 10 Nigerien soldiers were killed in an ambush, and more than a dozen others were injured by armed assailants near the West African Sahel nation’s border with neighbouring Mali, Niger’s defence minister said in a statement on Saturday.

Around 16 people are missing following the attack on Friday evening in Banibangou near Mali, Alkassoum Indattou said in a statement, adding that air force support forced the insurgents to flee across the border into Mali.

Niger, alongside neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso are struggling to quell insurgents linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State who carry out raids, and control swathes of territories in the vast Sahel region.

(Reporting by Moussa Aksar; Writing Bate Felix; Editing by Alison Williams)