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Security Sources: Niger Army Base Attack Death Toll Hits 89

Reuters

   NIAMEY,NIGER - The death toll from Thursday's attack by suspected
   jihadists on a Niger army base has risen to at least 89, four security
   sources said, surpassing a raid last month that killed 71 soldiers as
   the deadliest against Nigerien forces in years.

   The government said Thursday that 25 soldiershadbeenkilled, according
   to a provisional toll, while successfully repelling the attackby
   assailants aboard motorcycles and other vehiclesin the western town
   ofChinagodrar.

   Four security sources told Reuters that at least 89 members of Niger's
   security forces killed in the attack were buried Saturday in the
   capital, Niamey.

   One source said the actual death tollwas most likelyhigher
   becausesomesoldiers were buried immediately Thursday inChinagodrar.

   Defense Minister IssoufouKatambesaid that an updated death toll would
   be announced after a national security council meeting on Sunday.

   Deteriorating situation

   TheChinagodrarattack, coming a month after the raid in nearbyInatesby
   fighters from an Islamic State affiliate that killed 71 soldiers,
   highlights the deteriorating securitysituation near Niger's borders
   with Mali and Burkina Faso.

   Attacks have risen fourfold over the past year in Niger, killing nearly
   400 people, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event
   Data Project, a nonprofit researchorganization, despite efforts by
   international forces to stop militants linked to Islamic State and
   al-Qaida.

   French fighter jets were scrambled Thursday to scare off the attackers,
   France's regional taskforce said, possibly averting an even heavier
   casualty count.

   No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, butKatambesaid
   Friday that the army would launch a new offensive against jihadists.

   West Africa's Sahel region, a semiarid belt beneath the Sahara, has
   been in crisis since 2012, when ethnic Tuareg rebels and loosely
   aligned jihadists seized the northern two-thirds of Mali, forcing
   France to intervene to temporarily beat them back.

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