Niger: Islamic State claims responsibility for airport attack

The so-called Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the January 29th jihadist attack on the Diori Hamani International Airport in Niger, as reported by Africa News via AP on February 2nd.

Located in the nation’s capital, Niamey, the airport is a strategic hub that hosts military bases, the headquarters of the Niger-Burkina Faso-Mali Joint Force and a uranium stockpile, which is currently central to a dispute with Orano, a French nuclear company that Niger’s junta has pledged to nationalise.

A video released on February 1st on the Islamic State’s propaganda wing, Amaq News Agency, appeared to show an explosion inside a hangar housing a helicopter, along with other aircraft ablaze; gunfire damaged several passenger planes.

State television reported that government forces quickly responded to the assault, where they killed 20 attackers and arrested 11 others; four soldiers were injured in the incident.

Although the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, Niger’s junta leader, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, accused France, Benin, and the Ivory Coast of supporting the “sponsoring” of the groups behind the attack.

He provided no evidence to support these allegations; however, Niger and its allies, namely the junta-led Burkina Faso and Mali, have repeatedly accused Benin and the Ivory Coast of being French proxies due to their ties to Paris, the former colonial power of all five nations.

Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali are founding members of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a cooperation pact designed to counter the regional threat posed by jihadist insurgencies in the Sahel through shared military and intelligence resources.

All three countries have cut ties with France and Western powers, instead seeking strategic and security partnerships with Russia. Until the 2023 military coup that established the junta government, Niger had been a Western ally in the landlocked Sahel region.

In 2023, Niger expelled French troops from the territory; as part of a broader rejection of Western institutions, Niger also expelled humanitarian aid organisations, such as the Red Cross, with Interior Minister General Mohamed Toumba accusing the group of supporting terrorism.

The Sahel region has increasingly become a global hub for Islamist terrorism, where groups affiliated with the Islamic State and al-Qaeda are actively trying to take control of the region.

Africa News via AP, Maghrebi.org