'Inside help' behind deadly Niger terror attack
Days after a deadly suicide attack at a French-run uranium mine in Niger, a FRANCE 24 team that was given access to the high security site found evidence that the assailants had meticulously studied their target and likely received inside help.
By Donaig Le Du / Julien SAUVAGET / Kethevane GORJESTANI (video)
FRANCE 24 Arlit, NIGER (text)
The explosives-packed car that rammed a grinding unit at a uranium mine in Arlit, a remote town in northern Niger, last week is in tatters. The shell of the car's transmission system stands upright in the rubble, while the twisted frame was flung about ten meters away.
Days after suicide bombers attacked a uranium mine in this West African nation, the carefully coordinated and sophisticated nature of the assault is evident at the high security site.
The Somair mine, run by French nuclear giant Areva, was one of two sites attacked simultaneously at dawn on Thursday, May 23.
One person was slain and 14 other employees were injured at the mine while 18 soldiers and one civilian were killed at the Agadez army base 200 kilometres south of the uranium mining town, making it the worst terrorist attacks in Niger since France launched a military operation in neighbouring Mali in January.
A team of FRANCE 24 journalists -- the first foreign TV reporters allowed at the Somair mine since the suicide bombing -- found evidence that the attackers had a clear idea of the functioning and layout of the sprawling, tightly secured site.
A state funeral will take place on Monday for the victims of thursday's suicide attacks on a military base in agadez and the French-run somaïr (So-ma-eer) uranium mine in Arlit... France 24 journalists were the first foreign tv reporters to be allowed on the Somair site...
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