Nigerien soldiers reported killed in Boko Haram attack

Around 10 Nigerian soldiers have been killed in an attack by the Boko Haram jihadist group in southeastern Niger, local sources told AFP, with the assault confirmed by state media.

The attack occurred Friday close to N'Guigmi, a garrison town in the Diffa marshy Lake Chad region shared also by Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad and where Boko Haram has several camps, they said.

"There were around 10 soldiers killed in this attack," a local resident of N'Guigmi told AFP on condition of anonymity for their security.

"There were deaths among the attacks" too, he said, adding that the army was sweeping the area.

Other residents spoke of the attack in social media posts and said 10 soldiers were killed as well as four national guard personnel.

Niger's state ANP news agency did not give a toll, but confirmed there were deaths "following an attack by members of the Boko Haram cult on the outskirts of N'Guigmi town".

It reported that Diffa's governor, General Mahamadou Ibrahim, went to N'Guigmi to oversee the burial of security force members killed in the attack.

The Boko Haram jihadist insurgency, which erupted in 2009 in the region, has killed several thousand people over recent years and displaced millions in northeast Nigeria alone.

The violence has spilled into Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the jihadist groups.

The alliance had suffered setbacks in recent years after Niger withdrew following the military takeover in the west African country.