Mattis says does not have complete accurate information on Niger ambush

The government of Niger is encouraging thousands of people who have been in exile for years to return home. An estimated 130,000 people have been forced to flee due to attacks by Boko Haram and criminals in Diffa, in southeastern Niger.

The attack left 14 children dead as the assailants reportedly "shot at anything that moved." It's the latest attack in near Niger's border with Mali.

Thousands of people have died and tens of thousands have fled their homes in Niger's Tillaberi region, which is being ravaged by terrorist attacks. Now, the attackers are increasingly targeting children.

Two laps of 5 km and a winner aged only 10 years old: the Ingall camel race in the north of Niger is the flagship event of the "Salt Cure" festival, a great celebration of Saharan pastoralism trapped in the jihadist conflict in the region.

From the outside, it doesn't look like much: a two-storey building with a logo in the dusty streets of Agadez in northern Niger. But there has been plenty happening inside the building at Air Info -- an ambitious media outlet that has been breaking exclusives in the Sahara Desert.

The famous Cure Salee festival in northern Niger brings nomadic people from across the Sahara to celebrate their rich culture, hold camel races and meet with other dignitaries from the region.

The famous Cure Salee festival in northern Niger brings nomadic people from across the Sahara to celebrate their rich culture, hold camel races and meet with other dignitaries from the region.

Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum visited Banibangou on Saturday (November 6), an area where gunmen killed 69 people including a mayor earlier in the week, part of a wave of violence against civilians that has swept the country this year. A delegation led by the mayor of Banibangou was ambushed on Tuesday (November 2) about 50 km (30 miles) from the town, near the border with Mali. The area is overrun by militants associated with a local affiliate of Islamic State that has killed hundreds of civilians in rural communities this year. Fifteen people survived and a search operation was underway, Interior Minister Alkache Alhada said on state television. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

At least 25 primary school children were killed when their thatched-roof classrooms caught fire in southern Niger on Monday the council of ministers said in a statement. Fourteen more children were injured, including five in a critical condition, the statement said. The school is in the town of Maradi, more than 600 km (370 miles) east of the capital Niamey. Classes have been suspended and three days of mourning declared in Maradi.

At least 18 people were killed on Sunday in an artisanal gold mine collapse in southern Niger, the local mayor said on Monday. The disaster took place in the southern Maradi region, near the border with Nigeria. The death toll is likely to rise, said the mayor of the commune of Dan Issa, Adamou Guero, . The Governor of the Maradi region, Aboubacar Chaibou, visited the site on Monday and promised better working conditions for people at the sire.

In Zinder, Niger, industrial bakeries are taking over, leaving artisanal bakeries fighting for survival. These smaller bakeries now have to be strategic when it comes to supplying customers and boosting profits.

French armed forces have said they killed a senior "Islamic State" member believed to have been involved in a 2020 attack that left six French aid workers dead.