Gunfire and explosions heard in Niamey

“There is heavy gunfire and there are explosions around Niamey’s Base 101,” one local resident told AFP, an account confirmed by several other witnesses. At around 5am local time (4am GMT), a resident of Koira Kano, another neighbourhood in the west of the Niger capital, said he had heard sporadic small-arms fire.

Several posts on social media also reported gunfire and explosions in the city, including in the administrative district that houses the presidential palace and the national television broadcaster, which was still on air at 5am local time. Other posts showed armoured vehicles being deployed as reinforcements in a neighbourhood close to the airport.

Source of gunfire remains unknown

It is not yet clear what caused the gunfire, and the authorities have issued no official statement. Activists and communicators close to the junta have nevertheless said the “situation is under control”.

Niamey airport has twice been targeted by jihadists this year – first by Islamic State in January, then in late June by its rivals in JNIM, al-Qaeda’s Sahel affiliate. The army repelled both attacks, although 11 soldiers and two civilians were killed in June.

In January, General Abdourahamane Tiani, head of the military regime that took power in a July 2023 coup, acknowledged “a breach in the security system” that had “allowed the attack to take place”. He said its “objective was to destroy all of the army’s air capabilities”.

Air Force Base 101, which lies within the international airport complex, houses the headquarters of Niamey’s Russian partners in the Africa Corps. It is also home to the command of the unified force of the Alliance of Sahel States, which brings together Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali.

The site is particularly sensitive. Between December and January, it was being used to store a large shipment of uranium concentrate that was being held there pending export. No movement of the shipment has been detected since.

With AFP