Niger: Army officials fired in wake of deadly attack

KIGALI, Rwanda

The president of the West African nation of Niger on Monday fired the army’s chief of staff following last week’s attack on security forces that left 89 soldiers killed by extremists.

Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Ahmed Mohamed will be replaced by Brig-Gen. Salifou Modi, formerly Niger’s military attache to Germany, a presidential statement said Monday.

Issoufou Mahamadou also dismissed the secretary general of the Defense Ministry and the chief of Land Staff, according to the statement.

The announcement came as Issoufou and five presidents from the Sahel region were meeting in France with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss security in the Sahel.

The sacking came in the wake of reports that the death toll from a suspected terrorist attack last week on an army outpost in western Niger region had risen to 89.

In a statement issued after a meeting of the National Security Council chaired by Issoufou on Sunday, it also said 77 militants were killed, up from 63 announced earlier.

The government said last Thursday that militants had killed 25 soldiers and wounded six others in the town of Chinagodrar, around 11 kilometers (seven miles) from the border with Mali.