Explosions, heavy gunfire rock Niger republic 

Loud explosions and heavy gunfire rocked the main airport in Niger’s capital of Niamey, om Thursday morning. The international airport in Niamey houses a military base and has held a significant shipment of uranium from Niger’s mines meant for export. Residents told Associated Press the targeted area from the video capturing the loud blasts seems […]

Loud explosions and heavy gunfire rocked the main airport in Niger’s capital of Niamey, om Thursday morning.

The international airport in Niamey houses a military base and has held a significant shipment of uranium from Niger’s mines meant for export.

Residents told Associated Press the targeted area from the video capturing the loud blasts seems to be Diori Hamani International Airport, a key military hub for the Nigerien army.

So far, details of the explosions can neither be verified, as casualties and the level of damage cannot be ascertained.

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However, Niger’s militay junta, which came into power in 2023, is mum on the incident, but a resident said an unspecified number of gunmen attacked the airport, but they were later repelled by soldiers, a resident told AP.

But calm was said to have returned to the city Thursday morning.

Niger has struggled to contain deadly jihadi violence that has caused a significant damage to some parts of Africa’s Sahel region, where the neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali also are run by military juntas.