Counterterrorism

US invests $50m in Niger drone base for counterterrorism

The US already has a presence in the capital Niamey, where it shares an airbase with France's anti-Islamist force, Operation Barkhane.

MQ-9 Reaper drones are stationed there.

But the new facility, in the central city of Agadez, will give Washington greater ability to use drones against Islamist extremists in neighbouring countries like Libya, Mali and Nigeria.

In security sweep, Tunisian forces kill 5 alleged extremists

The operation by the national guard and the army near the town of El Ktar in the Gafsa region comes less than a week after Tunisia's government declared a state of emergency following a gunman's attack in the beach resort of Sousse that left 38 tourists dead — mostly Britons.

Ministry spokesman Walid Louguini told The Associated Press that a gunfight erupted Friday morning as a special national guard unit tracked and chased eight suspected extremists in the mountainous Ouled Bouomrane area, near Gafsa's mining zone.