At least 18 members of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahel have been killed in a joint operation by US, French and Niger troops near Niger’s border with Mali. Five other terrorists were arrested in the operation and are said to be helping the soldiers in the operations that are aimed at clearing the Sahel region of radical terrorists.
In a statement issued by the Malian defense ministry, the operation took 10 days and occurred in the northern border region of Tongo Tongo targeting an active cell of Daesh terrorists implicated in an ambush on May 14, in which 28 Nigerien soldiers were killed.
The French have a military base near Niamey airport and another at Madama in the north of Niger. The country is part of the G5 Sahel group set up to manage a coordinated response to the extremist insurgency.
