Attack on Nigerien Army Base Kills 13

No group has claimed responsibility yet for an October 21^st attack Nigerien Army base in Ayorou, near the Malian border, where 13 soldiers were killed.

Insurgents attacked the army base on motorcycles and trucks are believed to have crossed over from Mali and were heavily armed with rocket launchers and machine guns. During the attack, one of the insurgents was killed in an exchange of fire but others managed to make off with four Nigerien army vehicles.

Several Islamist groups operate in the area along the Mali-Niger border. There have been at least 46 attacks there since early last year.

The groups that are in Africa and that have launched attacks in Niger are Boko Haram also known as Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA), Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Boko Haram was founded in Nigeria and it has launched attacks in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. Since 2015, Boko Haram has staged regular attacks in the Diffa region, in southern Niger. Boko Haram had ties to AQIM, but in 2015 the group leader pledged allegiance to IS. The group has suffered in the past few years resulting from offensives by Nigerian and regional military forces, but it continues to carry out suicide bombings and other attacks.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was founded in Algeria and now operates primarily in Algeria, Mali, Mauritania, Libya, Tunisia, and Niger. AQIM briefly took over most of northern Mali in 2012 but was defeated following a French military intervention. After the defeat by the French military, AQIM relocated to more remote areas of Mali.

Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) was established in 2015 after the group’s leader, broke from an al-Qaeda group and pledged allegiance to Islamic State and its leader. ISGS has carried out attacks against regional security forces in Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali. The leader of ISGS had ties to AQIM before breaking off to establish ISGS in Mali.

Since it is believed that the attackers crossed over from Mali, either AQIM or ISGS is more likely to be the perpetrator of the recent attack as Boko Haram is mainly found in southeast Niger rather than southwest near the Mali-Niger border.

Earlier this month, on October 6^th, another attack was carried out by an insurgent group on a joint patrol of U.S. and Nigerien troops. Four U.S. Special Forces and 5 Nigerien soldiers were killed in the ambush while the troops were carrying out counterterrorism training in southwest Niger.

In June, President Trump confirmed there were 645 U.S. military personnel deployed to Niger to support counter-terrorism missions there.

The U.S. doesn’t have a direct combat role in Niger and instead provides assistance to the Nigerien army, providing training and surveillance to counter terrorist groups in the area.

President Trump has not talked in depth about the attack on October 6^th that killed the first U.S. forces in Niger. Niger has remained vital in the fight against extremism and remains a crossroads for traffickers and terrorists. These factors might lead the U.S. to increase its involvement and troops in Niger, but the Trump administration has yet to fully establish a policy for fighting terrorism in Africa.