Gunfire, blasts rock Niger airport before calm restored
Gunfire and loud explosions echoed around Niger’s international airport in Niamey shortly before midnight in what two security sources described as a “terrorist attack”.
The Reuters witness said businesses and schools were open in the city of about 1.5 million and people moved freely except for a cordoned-off area near the airport heavily patrolled by defense and security forces.
Two security sources who spoke to Reuters described the overnight incident as a “terrorist attack” and said security around the airport had been strengthened following an internal warning that an attack on the airport was imminent.
They said a uranium cache currently held at the airport was not affected by the attack.
Nigerian authorities moved uranium yellowcake from the Somair mine in Arlit to the Niamey base for export late last year after seizing control of the mine from French nuclear group Orano. According to two other sources, he estimated it to be about 1,000 metric tons of uranium.
Two more sources confirmed Wednesday night that uranium was still at the airport at the time of the incident.
Yellowcake, or uranium oxide concentrate, is a powdered form of uranium that can be processed to make fuel for nuclear power generation.
The witness said a strengthened security presence was seen on the capital’s main streets on Thursday, particularly on the road leading to the airport.
A Reuters witness said the intense gunfire started shortly before midnight on Wednesday and lasted for more than an hour.
A video shared on social media platform
A spokesman for Niger’s military government, which seized power in a coup in July 2023, was not immediately available for comment.
The West African country, like its Sahel neighbors Mali and Burkina Faso, is struggling to contain attacks by jihadist groups that have killed thousands and displaced millions in those three countries.
The kidnapping of a US missionary in Niamey in October led the US to warn its citizens not to travel to the country.
Last year, five Indian citizens, one Swiss citizen and one Austrian citizen were kidnapped in more remote parts of the country.
