3 days of mourning after 89 soldiers killed in attack on Niger military base

This appeared in The Millennial Source

The West African nation of Niger has declared three days of national mourning after 89 soldiers were killed in an attack on a military base. The attack took place on Thursday, January 9 when heavily armed militants attacked an army outpost in Chinagodrar near the border of Mali. Niger’s flag will also be flown at half-staff across the country to pay tribute to the troops killed in the raid.

President Mahamadou Issoufou expressed his deepest condolences to the victims’ families and wished those wounded in the attack a speedy recovery.

“I would like to salute the courage and bravery with which our SDFs, supported by our allies, repelled the attack on #Chinagoder. On behalf of the people of Niger, I offer my deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wish the injured a speedy recovery,” Issoufou tweeted in French.

Number of casualties in recent attacks

The number of troops killed in Thursday’s attack is higher than the casualty figures from December’s attacks by jihadist militants on another military outpost in the country’s west, which killed 71 soldiers.