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Tuareg attack claims 2 in Niger
18/03/2008 07:26 - (SA)
Niamey - Tuareg rebels attacked a government outpost in Niger on Monday, killing two security force members and kidnapping a third, according to a government statement read on state-run TV.
The statement said "armed bandits" riding in sport utility vehicles attacked the administrative post in the town of Banibangou early on Monday morning.
They were pushed back by security forces, it said. Niger's government had been involved in a tense standoff with Tuareg rebels in the country's northern desert.
They refused to call the ethnic Tuaregs by name, referring to them instead by the code of "armed bandits," a move some said was intended to efface the identity of the rebel movement.
The statement issued by the public security ministry said two security force members, including a policeman and a guard were killed. A second policeman was taken hostage.
Last week, the Tuareg rebels released 25 soldiers who had been taken hostage nine months ago in the country's troubled north. The hostages were released after the intervention of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was believed to have negotiated the deal.
The lighter-skinned nomadic Tuaregs had long clashed with the government of Niger, run by the country's black-skinned majority.
The Tuaregs charge that their people have been marginalised, even as their traditional grazing grounds are now sought after for the uranium riches hidden in its soil.
Banibangou was located 80km north of Niamey, Niger's capital, and not far from the border with Mali.
- AP
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