Six Nigerien soldiers protecting an oil pipeline to neighbouring Benin were killed during an attack by “armed bandits” in the south of the country, Niger’s army said on Sunday.
“A patrol dedicated to securing the pipeline was attacked by armed bandits on the outskirts of the village of Salkam… unfortunately we deplore the deaths of six of our comrades,” the army said in its latest bulletin.
A local source told AFP the attack happened on Wednesday.
It was the first such attack against the 2,000-kilometre (1,240 miles) pipeline that links the northeastern oil field of Agadem to the Beninese port of Seme-Kpodji.
The army said it had forced the “attackers to beat a…
Source: Nigerian Tribune
