Six soldiers were killed in Niger on Thursday when unknown assailants attacked soldiers guarding a major oil pipeline between Niger and Benin.
The attack on the patrol guarding the pipeline took place between the villages of Salkam and Tibiri in the Dosso region of south-eastern Niger, security sources said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which is the first to target security forces protecting the pipeline.
Inaugurated in November last year, the 2,000-kilometre pipeline links Niger’s Agadim oil field to the coast of Benin.