{"id":729619,"date":"2026-01-29T23:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T23:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/729619\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T23:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T23:45:11","slug":"niger-military-govt-says-france-benin-ivory-coast-behind-airport-attack-military-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/729619\/","title":{"rendered":"Niger military gov\u2019t says France, Benin, Ivory Coast behind airport attack | Military News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__subhead\">\u2018They should be ready to hear us roar,\u2019 says military ruler Tiani, who thanked Russian troops for defending airbase.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"avatar\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/author\/al_jazeera_staff_150119130629458\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769730311_988_2017-06-08T131939Z_1189275883_RC11B0FE7F20_RTRMADP_3_GULF-QATAR-JAZEERA-1714943623.jpg\"   aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Published On 29 Jan 202629 Jan 2026<\/p>\n<p>Click here to share on social media<\/p>\n<p>share2<\/p>\n<p class=\"rich-share__social-text\">Share<\/p>\n<p>Niger\u2019s military government has accused France, Benin and Ivory Coast of sponsoring an assault on a military base at Niamey\u2019s international airport, while thanking \u201cRussian partners\u201d for repelling the attack.<\/p>\n<p>General Abdourahamane Tiani, who seized power in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2024\/7\/26\/a-year-after-nigers-coup-split-political-loyalties-test-family-ties\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2023 coup<\/a>, made his claims on state television on Thursday, blaming France\u2019s President Emmanuel Macron, Benin\u2019s Patrice Talon and Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara. He did not offer any evidence to back up those claims.<\/p>\n<p>Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n<p>France, Benin and Ivory Coast have not commented on the claims yet.<\/p>\n<p>The military leader made those claims after visiting the airbase at Diori Hamani International Airport, located some 10km (six miles) from the presidential palace, where explosions and shootings were reported on Wednesday night into Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Defence Minister Salifou Modi said the attack lasted \u201cabout 30 minutes\u201d, before an \u201cair and ground response\u201d. The\u00a0defence ministry said four military personnel were injured and 20 attackers were killed, with state television saying that a French national was among them.<\/p>\n<p>Eleven people were arrested, it added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have heard them bark, they should be ready to hear us roar,\u201d said Tiani in comments that reflected the recent deterioration of Niger\u2019s relations with France and neighbouring nations that he views as French proxies in the region.<\/p>\n<p>Tiani also thanked Russian troops stationed at the base for \u201cdefending their sector\u201d, confirming his nation\u2019s growing ties with Moscow, which has provided <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/4\/12\/russia-sends-military-trainers-air-defence-system-to-niger-state-media\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">military support<\/a> to tackle a rebellion linked to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/12\/28\/niger-military-rulers-order-general-mobilisation-against-armed-groups\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">al-Qaeda and ISIL<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Neither of the armed groups has so far claimed responsibility.<\/p>\n<p>Niger has been led by General Tiani since a coup that overthrew the elected civilian president, Mohamed Bazoum, in July 2023.<\/p>\n<p>The country, which is allied with Sahel neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/inside-story\/2024\/7\/7\/whats-behind-the-creation-of-the-alliance-of-sahel-states\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alliance of Sahel States<\/a> (AES), has struggled to contain the rebellion, which has killed thousands and displaced millions in the three nations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018They should be ready to hear us roar,\u2019 says military ruler Tiani, who thanked Russian troops for defending&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2740,2000,299,36,2597,12,2744],"class_list":["post-729619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-africa","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-france","tag-military","tag-news","tag-niger"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115981053277956971","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}