Heavily armed gunmen riding motor bikes and other vehicles raided a village and killed five soldiers in Niger near the border with Mali early on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said, amid signs of a growing Islamist insurgency in the region. Dozens of attackers entered Banigabou, about 20 km (12 miles) from the frontier before dawn – gunshots rang out for two hours, said residents. The ministry did not name the raiders, though Islamist militants based in Mali’s desert north have been pushing south toward its capital and over borders in the fragile Sahel region into Niger and Burkina Faso.
