By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Tension has flared in Niger following a sustained heavy gunfire and loud explosions in the early hours of Thursday near the international airport outside the capital, Niamey.
Air defence systems apparently engaged unidentified projectiles, BBC report says, quoting multiple eyewitness accounts and videos.
Calm later returned, with an official quoted to have said that the situation was now under control, without providing further details.
It is not clear what caused the blasts, or if there were any casualties. There has been no official statement from the junta-led government.
The gunfire and blasts began shortly after midnight, according to residents of a neighbourhood near the Diori Hamani International Airport, the AFP news agency reports. They said calm returned after two hours.
The airport houses an air force base and is located about 10km from the presidential palace.
A huge uranium shipment that left northern Niger in late November and was destined for export has been stuck at the airport.
This follows unresolved legal and diplomatic complications with France after the Abdourahamane Tchiani-led military government nationalised the country’s mineral resources, including mining of uranium.
“The situation is under control. There is no need to worry,” the Anadolu news agency quoted a Foreign Affairs ministry official as saying, without elaborating.
The official told the agency they were trying to determine whether the gunfire was linked to the uranium shipment.
Tiani seized power in a 2023 coup that ousted the country’s elected civilian government and has been fighting jihadist groups who have carried out deadly attacks.
