Gunfire heard at Niger capital's airport

Explosions and gunfire were heard early on Thursday at the airport in Niger’s capital, Niamey, residents have told the BBC.

“I heard the first gunshots at 06:00 local time (05:00 GMT) while I was at the mosque. But the current situation is under control,” one person said.

The gunfire, which lasted for two hours, came from the entrance at the Diori Hamani international airport, a witness told the AFP news agency.

Niger has been fighting an Islamist insurgency for a decade and in January suspected jihadists launched an attack on the same airport. Like its neighbours, Burkina Faso and Mali, Niger is run by a military junta that came to power in part because of a failure to deal with the violence.

Residents have told the BBC that Thursday’s attack was repelled by the army, which is now hunting down the fleeing assailants who reportedly abandoned their weapons.

The authorities have not yet commented and no group has said it was responsible but an affiliate to the Islamic State group said it had carried out January’s assault.

Niger’s defence ministry said that in January’s attack, four military personnel were injured and 20 attackers killed.

At the time, the head of Niger’s military government, which has been in power for three years, thanked Russia for its help in foiling the attack. Abdourahamane Tiani also accused the presidents of France, Benin and Ivory Coast of backing those responsible.

He did not give details of what help Russia had provided, or provide any evidence to support his accusations against the other countries.

In recent weeks, authorities in Niger have demolished neighbourhoods near the airport, citing “terrorist risks”.

They have also extended the airport’s perimeter fence and installed more than 350 surveillance cameras, AFP reports.

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