Gunmen Attack a Major Airport in Niger

Gunmen attacked the main airport of the West African country of Niger on Thursday morning for the second time this year.

Two people living near the airport in Niamey, Niger’s capital, described hearing gunshots that began around 5 or 6 a.m. and lasted for around 30 minutes. The attack was soon over, with Nigerien forces quickly shutting down the area around the airport.

Niger’s minister of defense said in a statement on state TV that 11 members of the armed forces had been killed, along with two civilians and 22 of the attackers. He said that around 20 suspects had been arrested.

The earlier attack at the airport, in January, was waged by a branch of the Islamic State based in the Sahel. This one was claimed by Al Qaeda’s local affiliate, JNIM, in a post on its social media channels.

Niger has long been fending off attacks by Islamist militants. Niamey was once insulated from the violence in Niger’s rural areas, but the attacks have begun to draw closer.

A teacher at a primary school, Abdulkarim Habibou, 35, said he had just come home from morning prayers at a mosque when he and his family heard gunfire from the direction of the airport. They hid in the bedroom until the shooting stopped.

“Hearing shots like that, we were really scared,” Mr. Habibou said.

Abdoulaye Mamane, a taxi driver who lives around half a mile from the airport, woke up his wife and children when he heard the gunfire, he said. Terrified, they began to cry, he said.

“This is the second attack like this,” Mr. Mamane said. “I don’t want anything to happen to my family. We’ll have to leave the neighborhood.”

Soon after the attack, a crowd gathered in support of the government, wielding knives and other weapons. In December, Niger’s military president, Abdourahamane Tiani, issued a state decree ordering citizens to respond to any calls to defend the country.

Mr. Tiani and other officers toppled Niger’s government in a 2023 coup and have held the deposed president in captivity ever since. The officers claimed they could restore security to a country wracked by insurgent attacks, but since they seized power, the violence has spiraled.

A similar situation is playing out in neighboring Mali, which is also ruled by a junta. In April, an alliance of jihadists and rebels launched coordinated attacks, capturing a key city and killing the defense minister. It was a severe blow to the junta’s strongman image.

In January, the Islamic State Sahel Province launched a major attack on Niamey airport, where most of Niger’s military aircraft and drones are stationed, according to the International Crisis Group, as well as Russian and Italian forces. Soon afterward, Mr. Tiani accused the presidents of France, Benin and Ivory Coast of “sponsoring” that attack.

Héni Nsaibia, a researcher with the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, in an exchange of messages, said the attack on Thursday “appears much smaller in scale than the January attack, and it seems that it failed.”

Saikou Jammeh contributed reporting.