Dozens of soldiers killed in suspected jihadist attack in Niger

At least a dozen Niger soldiers were killed following an attack by hundreds of armed insurgents on motorbikes in the country’s southwest on Thursday morning, the West African nation’s defense ministry said in a statement.

Seven soldiers were killed in combat while five others died in an accident while driving to reinforce the unit that had come under attack, the statement said. 

Niger's defence minister, Salifou Mody, said in a statement that a military unit had been "violently attacked by several hundred terrorists" in the town of Kandadji on Thursday, adding that seven soldiers were killed in the fighting.