Suspected Boko Haram members attacked a village in Niger Republic while in search of food, and in the process killed two soldiers and injured others.
A Boko Haram attack on a village in southeastern Niger killed two of the country’s soldiers, the Nigerien army said Friday, the latest deadly raid by the Islamist group.
The incident occurred when a nearby military unit was warned that an attack was imminent against the village of Baroua, near the border with Nigeria, at around 10:30pm (2130 GMT) on Thursday, and dispatched soldiers to the scene, according to a defence ministry statement read on state television.
On the way to the village, the troops were ambushed by “suspected Boko Haram elements”, the statement said, with two soldiers killed and seven others wounded. An army vehicle was also destroyed.
Private radio station Anfani said the firefight following the ambush lasted five hours, and added that the attackers looted shops and took “large quantities of food”.
Niger, whose primary source of foreign income is uranium, has joined a regional military alliance, alongside Chad, Niger and Nigeria, to fight Boko Haram, infamous for mass abductions, village massacres and suicide bombings by women and teenagers.