Niger says a rebel leader killed in army operation
By Abdoulaye Massalatchi
NIAMEY, June 28 (Reuters) - A leader of Niger's Tuareg-led rebel movement was killed when government troops backed by helicopters captured a rebel position in the north of the West African state, a government army officer said on Saturday.
Niger's defence ministry had announced on Friday the recapture by the army of Tazerzait, at the foot of Mount Tamgak in the Agadez region, a position which Niger Justice Movement (MNJ) fighters had attacked and taken a year ago. It said 17 members of the rebel MNJ were killed in Friday's army assault.
"We killed 17 armed bandits yesterday and among the dead was Asharif, their vice-president, whom everyone knows deserted from the government forces a year ago," the government officer, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
The MNJ's website, www.m-n-j.blogspot.com, lists Captain Asharif Mohamed-Almoctar as the first vice-president of the insurgent group, whose desert fighters have waged a rebellion since last year in the uranium-producing northern Agadez region.
MNJ leaders are demanding greater autonomy for the region and a bigger share of its mineral wealth for local people.
Without confirming Mohamed-Almoctar as a casualty, the MNJ said on its website one of its unit commanders was "missing" after fierce fighting around Tazerzait, in which it said 26 government soldiers and seven rebel fighters were killed.
The MNJ said it had shot down a helicopter, one of two it said was used by the government in its assault on Tazerzait. Niger's army said it suffered no losses in the operation.
The latest fighting followed the release by the MNJ on Wednesday of four French employees of the French nuclear group Areva it abducted on Sunday in the northern uranium mining town of Arlit. The rebels said they had seized the four to disprove the government's assurances that it could protect foreign mining and oil investments. President Mamadou Tandja's government, which dismisses the MNJ rebels as bandits and smugglers of arms and drugs, has ruled out any negotiations unless they first lay down their arms.
At least 200 rebels and 70 government troops have been killed in more than a year of inconclusive fighting.
Encouraged by rising world prices for uranium, the radioactive fuel for nuclear reactors, Niger hopes to become the world's no. 2 uranium producer by 2011, thanks to new mines being opened by France's Areva and the China Nuclear International Uranium Corp. (Sino-U).
Many other foreign companies have been awarded licences to explore for uranium, gold, oil and other minerals in Niger. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com/) (Writing by Pascal Fletcher)
NIAMEY, June 28 (Reuters) - A leader of Niger's Tuareg-led rebel movement was killed when government troops backed by helicopters captured a rebel position in the north of the West African state, a government army officer said on Saturday.
Niger's defence ministry had announced on Friday the recapture by the army of Tazerzait, at the foot of Mount Tamgak in the Agadez region, a position which Niger Justice Movement (MNJ) fighters had attacked and taken a year ago. It said 17 members of the rebel MNJ were killed in Friday's army assault.
"We killed 17 armed bandits yesterday and among the dead was Asharif, their vice-president, whom everyone knows deserted from the government forces a year ago," the government officer, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
The MNJ's website, www.m-n-j.blogspot.com, lists Captain Asharif Mohamed-Almoctar as the first vice-president of the insurgent group, whose desert fighters have waged a rebellion since last year in the uranium-producing northern Agadez region.
MNJ leaders are demanding greater autonomy for the region and a bigger share of its mineral wealth for local people.
Without confirming Mohamed-Almoctar as a casualty, the MNJ said on its website one of its unit commanders was "missing" after fierce fighting around Tazerzait, in which it said 26 government soldiers and seven rebel fighters were killed.
The MNJ said it had shot down a helicopter, one of two it said was used by the government in its assault on Tazerzait. Niger's army said it suffered no losses in the operation.
The latest fighting followed the release by the MNJ on Wednesday of four French employees of the French nuclear group Areva it abducted on Sunday in the northern uranium mining town of Arlit. The rebels said they had seized the four to disprove the government's assurances that it could protect foreign mining and oil investments. President Mamadou Tandja's government, which dismisses the MNJ rebels as bandits and smugglers of arms and drugs, has ruled out any negotiations unless they first lay down their arms.
At least 200 rebels and 70 government troops have been killed in more than a year of inconclusive fighting.
Encouraged by rising world prices for uranium, the radioactive fuel for nuclear reactors, Niger hopes to become the world's no. 2 uranium producer by 2011, thanks to new mines being opened by France's Areva and the China Nuclear International Uranium Corp. (Sino-U).
Many other foreign companies have been awarded licences to explore for uranium, gold, oil and other minerals in Niger. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com/) (Writing by Pascal Fletcher)
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