Niger: Clashes with terrorists leave 12 soldiers dead

SANAA, Dec. 06 (YPA) – Gunmen have killed 12 soldiers and injured eight in a clash in southwest Niger near the border with Burkina Faso, the government said on Sunday.

This is the latest in a spate of attacks that have killed hundreds this year.

Soldiers encountered hundreds of fighters near the village of Funio on Saturday and came under heavy fire, killing dozens of the militants in the fighting, according to the government.

According to Reuters, the strike is part of a larger wave of violence brought to al Qaeda and  Daesh in 2017 that has spread across West Africa’s Sahel region, a dry state located south of the Sahara Desert.

Some of the most deadly strikes have occurred in the border region of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso, and dozens of people have been killed in the region and many have been displaced.