The death toll from the attack on the military post in Chinegodar has risen to at least 89, Reuters reported citing four local security sources.
According to them, on Saturday, 89 Nigerien army servicemen, killed in Thursday's attack, were buried in Niamey.
The actual number of soldiers who died repelling the assault by unidentified militants could be higher, as some of the victims had been buried in Chinegodar immediately after the militants' raid, one of the sources told Reuters.
The updated death toll would be announced on Sunday after the meeting of the Nigerien Security Council, Minister of Defence Issoufou Katambe stated, as quoted by the Reuters news agency.
In December 2019, terrorists attacked an army camp in western Niger near the Malian border killing at least 70 soldiers, while 30 others went missing. The Daesh* terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Niger is part of the G5 anti-jihadist task force which also includes Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mauritania and is fighting against Boko Haram militants as well as jihadists linked to the Daesh* group.
*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia