Armed insurgents attacked the south-central city of Tanout in an overnight raid that left three people dead and five seriously injured, a governor in the region said Tuesday. The attackers battled the city's security forces for about four hours late Monday night before pulling back, regional Governor Yahaya Yandaka told state radio. The assailants also set fire to the city's electrical utility building and stole five vehicles before pulling back, he said.
A small group of ethnic Tuaregs have been waging a low-level rebellion for more than a year in northern Niger. The rebel group known as Niger Movement for Justice accuses the government of reneging on promises to improve economic opportunities for the nomadic Tuareg people and of trying to push the northern-based blue-robed nomads off uranium-rich lands so the state can profit.