DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Gunmen attacked the main airport in Niger's capital early Thursday, killing 11 soldiers and two civilians in an exchange of fire that also left 22 of the attackers dead, authorities said.
Niger’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that the attack in Niamey was foiled and that 20 suspects were arrested along with weapons and ammunition.
Witnesses reported gunfire and explosions during the attack, and an Associated Press journalist saw soldiers searching people on the road to the airport in the aftermath of the violence.
Hours later, the National Civil Aviation Agency said the airport was operating normally.
Niger, led by a military junta since a 2023 coup, has struggled to contain deadly jihadi violence that has battered parts of Africa’s Sahel region, including neighbors Burkina Faso and Mali that are also run by military juntas.
It was the second attack at Diori Hamani International Airport in Niamey this year, after the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a similar attack in January that targeted Niger’s drone assets.
The airport is a strategic hub that hosts a Nigerien air force base as well as the headquarters of the Niger-Burkina Faso-Mali joint military force.
The military has beefed up the airport security following the January attack, but jihadis in Niger and the wider region continue to pose serious threats, analysts say.
“The symbolism of the airport as headquarters for AES will drive intent by militants to target it,” said Beverly Ochieng, a senior security analyst at Control Risks, referring to the regional Alliance of Sahel States.
FILE- Motorcyclists ride by the entrance of the airport in Niamey, Niger, Aug. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Famous cricketers from around the world have renewed their appeal for the medical treatment of former star player turned politician Imran Khan in a letter to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
A group of 22 former international cricket captains, including Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev of India and Australian greats Greg Chappell and Ian Chappell, signed a second such letter to the Pakistan prime minister within six months.
The latest appeal comes days after Khan was taken to a government hospital in the capital for a medical examination. The examination was conducted in the presence of one of his sisters, and Khan was then returned to Adiala prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Doctors declared him 100% medically fit.
However, the group of cricket greats questioned the procedure of Khan’s medical checkup.
“ Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered that Imran Khan be transferred to hospital for examination by a medical board that was to include his own personal physicians and his sister, Dr. Uzma Khan,” the cricketers said in a letter.
“Concerningly, Mr. Khan’s hospital stay lasted only a few hours. He was examined by a state-appointed team rather than the board the court had directed, declared ‘medically fit,’ and returned to Adiala jail before that board could complete its work.”
Khan, 73, led Pakistan to the 1992 Cricket World Cup title and later served as prime minister from 2018 until his ouster in 2022.
The 22 former national team captains said they don't seek to adjudicate on Pakistan’s domestic legal process and had written to the prime minister “not as politicians, but as former colleagues and rivals (of Khan) who share a bond forged on the cricket field.”
In February, 14 former international cricketers expressed their concern over Khan’s health after his family said he had lost about 85% of the vision in his right eye, a claim disputed by the government. Authorities later said his condition was improving following treatment.
Khan’s lawyers and family have also accused the government of defying a court order that required him to be examined at the private Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad. Pakistan’s government rejected the allegations over the weekend, saying Khan was examined by doctors from the private hospital and that he could not be taken to Shifa International for security reasons.
The government said Khan’s supporters had begun gathering outside the private hospital in violation of the court order, which required them to stay away from the medical facility to avoid inconveniencing other patients.
The government has also rejected allegations from Khan’s family that he was being subjected to “cruelty, mental torture, punitive solitary confinement and medical neglect.”
Khan is not being held under a government order but as a “convicted prisoner” serving sentences imposed by courts following judicial proceedings, the Ministry of Information said in a written response to The Associated Press last Friday.
The ministry also rejected allegations that Khan was being held in solitary confinement or denied meaningful contact with his family. It said Khan had received more than 900 visits from family members, lawyers, doctors, political representatives, and other approved visitors since his imprisonment in 2023. He has also been allowed weekly meetings with his wife, as well as telephone and WhatsApp contact with relatives in Pakistan and abroad, the ministry said.
It said his sisters had met with him as recently as Aug. 18 and 19.
See AP’s full cricket coverage here
Police officers remove media in front of the Shifa International Hospital, where imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan will be transferred for a medical examination following Pakistan's Supreme Court order, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's sister Uzma Khan, left, speaks as Khan's personal physician Faisal Sultan watches during a press conference in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, Aug. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
A medical person enters Shifa International Hospital, where imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan will be transferred for a medical examination following Pakistan's Supreme Court order, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
