At least four civilians and four members of the Nigerien Security Forces (SDF) were killed in a jihadist attack on Friday in Diffa, the large city in south-eastern Niger, near Nigeria, according to a new report announced on Saturday evening. by the government.
Read also: Niger: major attack by Boko Haram in the south-east of the country
“
The provisional assessment is as follows: friendly side, four elements of the Defense and Security Forces (FDS) and four dead civilians. Eight elements of the SDF and five civilians wounded. On the enemy side: several terrorists neutralized (killed) including six abandoned bodies
”, specifies this assessment of the Nigerien Ministry of Defense broadcast Saturday evening on public television. “
The sweep is in progress
” in the area of the attack, the ministry said.
According to residents of Diffa, among the elements of the FDS killed are "
two gendarmes and two policemen
" and "
civilians were mostly hit by stray bullets
" during the heavy fighting. A previous assessment of the attack communicated late Saturday afternoon to AFP by the Diffa authorities reported three dead including "
two gendarmes and a police officer
" and "
two wounded gendarmes
".
The government army destroyed seven vehicles of the attackers equipped with machine guns, and recovered weapons and equipment. Three cars, machine guns, rocket launchers, a mortar, a large amount of ammunition, two jihadist flags, cell phones, narcotics and syringes were seized, according to the authorities' report.
On Friday, a senior official in the governorate of the Diffa region told AFP that "
elements of Boko Haram attacked Diffa on the side of the locality of Bagara
", in the southern part of the city, on the outskirts of the Nigerian border. "
There was the reaction of the Defense and Security Forces (FDS) with heavy fire, including heavy weapons
," said the official, deploring that this brutal infiltration of jihadists created "
panic movements
”in this garrison town of 200,000 inhabitants.
Since 2015, the town of Diffa has been attacked several times by members of Boko Haram and Iswap, which have left several dead.
According to the UN, the Diffa region is home to 300,000 Nigerian and displaced refugees, fleeing the abuses of jihadists since 2015.
