A burst of heavy gunfire and explosions erupted shortly after midnight on Thursday near Niger’s main international airport in the capital, Niamey, terrifying residents and briefly shattering the city’s calm.
Videos filmed by locals showed streaks of light tearing across the night sky, accompanied by thunderous blasts. Other footage circulating online captured flames rising several metres high and multiple vehicles burned and charred.
Residents in neighbourhoods close to Diori Hamani International Airport said that intense shooting lasted for roughly two hours before subsiding. By around 2 AM, calm had largely returned.
The airport, about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the presidential palace, houses an air force base and serves as a strategic military hub. It is also the headquarters of a joint force formed by Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali to combat terrorist groups operating across the Sahel.
Authorities had not, by early Thursday, announced what triggered the violence or whether there were casualties. Several residents reported hearing sirens as fire trucks sped toward the airport area in the early morning hours.
Niger has been ruled since 2023 by General Abdourahamane Tiani, following the overthrow of the country’s elected civilian government. The country has since expelled French and US forces that previously assisted in counterterrorism operations.
Calls on “taking streets to defend country”
An online activist supportive of the government, Ibrahim Bana, posted a video on Facebook calling on residents to take to the streets to “defend the country,” raising concerns about heightened tensions.
The unrest comes against a backdrop of persistent violence. According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), nearly 2,000 people were killed in Niger in 2025 in attacks linked to terrorist groups.
Adding to the strategic sensitivity of the airport area, a large uranium shipment with an undisclosed buyer — transported from northern Niger in late November — has reportedly been stranded at the facility for weeks.
