Residents told AFP that heavy gunfire and explosions broke out early on Thursday near the international airport in Niamey, the capital of Niger, but they stopped within hours.
Videos captured by locals featured flames several metres high and burned cars, while other footage showed streaks of light in the sky accompanied by the sound of loud explosions.
The capital’s Diori Hamani International Airport houses an air force base and is located about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the presidential palace.
Abdourahamane Tiani, the leader of a junta that deposed the nation’s elected civilian president in 2023, has been in charge of Niger, a nation frequently targeted by jihadist attacks, for more than two years. Niger, a country hit regularly by jihadist attacks, has been led for more than two years by Abdourahamane Tiani, the head of a junta that overthrew the country’s elected civilian president in 2023.
Residents of a neighbourhood close to the airport claim that the shooting started just after midnight.
Two hours later, calm returned, they told AFP.
The cause of the gunfire and the number of casualties were not immediately apparent.
Early in the morning, locals reported hearing the sirens of fire trucks approaching the airport.
Ibrahim Bana, an online activist who backs military rule, urged people to gather in the capital’s streets to “defend the country” in a Facebook video.
A joint force established by Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali to fight jihadist organisations causing deadly violence in the area is headquartered at the nation’s biggest international airport.
French and American forces that had been assisting in the fight against the jihadists have been driven out by Niger’s military leadership since it took control of the nation.
Niger and its neighbours, who are likewise ruled by military juntas, have united to form the Alliance of Sahel States, their own confederation, and have declared the formation of a 5,000-man force for combined military operations.
Nearly 2,000 people were killed by jihadist violence in Niger in 2025, according to ACLED, an NGO that monitors conflict deaths worldwide.
Additionally, a massive shipment of uranium with an unidentified buyer that departed the country’s north in late November has been stranded at the airport for weeks.
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