Rebel group claims heavy losses for security forces amid ongoing tensions over oil resources.

Niger’s army said on Wednesday that it had repelled a rebel attack targeting a major oil pipeline in the east of the country, while the assailants claimed they inflicted heavy losses on security forces.

CBI News reports that the Patriotic Movement for Freedom and Justice, which calls for the reinstatement of deposed president Mohamed Bazoum, has carried out sporadic attacks on the pipeline over the past two years.

The 2,000 kilometre pipeline exports crude oil from landlocked Niger to the Atlantic ports of neighbouring Benin. The state-run China National Petroleum Corporation helps operate the pipeline.

The army said in its weekly operations bulletin that a site in the Agadem oil block was targeted in an attempted attack on Tuesday by armed members of the MPLJ.

The swift and decisive response of the defence and security forces forced the attackers to retreat in disarray, abandoning military material and equipment, the army said. It shared images showing an abandoned vehicle marked with the MPLJ logo, weapons, and bodies of suspected assailants.

The army added that it pursued the attackers, who fled towards Chad, the direction from which they had come.

The rebel group said in a statement that the army suffered heavy losses, claiming at least 24 soldiers were killed.

The MPLJ warned the China National Petroleum Corporation that any direct or indirect collaboration with Niger’s ruling junta exposed it to attacks.

The junta, led by General Abdourahamane Tiani, who seized power in July 2023, has prioritized protecting the country’s sovereignty, particularly its mining resources.

However, the MPLJ, which describes itself as composed of nomadic herders, says local communities still benefit too little from the oil wealth in the northeast and calls for the return of Niger’s constitutional order.