{"id":5459,"date":"2026-06-18T13:25:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/?p=5459"},"modified":"2026-06-18T13:25:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:25:32","slug":"gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/","title":{"rendered":"GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS WERE HEARD AT THE AIRPORT IN THE CAPITAL OF NIGER.\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Residents reported hearing explosions and gunfire early Thursday at the airport in Niamey, Niger&#8217;s capital, according to the BBC.<\/strong> &#8220;I heard the first gunshots at 06:00 local time (05:00 GMT) while I was at the mosque. But the current situation is under control,&#8221; one person said. The gunfire, lasting for two hours, originated from the entrance of Diori Hamani International Airport, a witness told the AFP news agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"692\" src=\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niger-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5460\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.4797851449693888;width:691px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niger-4.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niger-4-300x203.jpg 300w, https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niger-4-768x519.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Niger has been battling an Islamist insurgency for a decade, and in January, suspected jihadists attacked the same airport. Residents reported to the BBC that Thursday&#8217;s attack was repelled by the army, which is now pursuing the fleeing assailants who&nbsp;reportedly left&nbsp;their weapons behind. The authorities have not yet commented, and no group has claimed responsibility. However, an affiliate of the Islamic State group&nbsp;stated&nbsp;it executed the January assault.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Niger&#8217;s&nbsp;defense&nbsp;ministry&nbsp;stated&nbsp;that &#8220;four military personnel were injured and 20 attackers were killed&#8221; in the attack that occurred in January. At that time, the leader of Niger&#8217;s military government, which had been in power for three years, expressed gratitude to Russia for its&nbsp;assistance&nbsp;in thwarting the attack. Abdourahamane Tiani also accused the presidents of France, Benin, and&nbsp;Ivory Coast&nbsp;of supporting those who&nbsp;were responsible for&nbsp;the incident.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He did not provide details about the&nbsp;assistance&nbsp;Russia offered, nor did he present any evidence to back his claims against the other countries. Recently, authorities in Niger have demolished&nbsp;neighborhoods&nbsp;near the airport due to &#8220;terrorist risks.&#8221; They have also enlarged the airport&#8217;s perimeter fence and installed over &#8220;350 surveillance cameras,&#8221; according to AFP reports.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Residents reported hearing explosions and gunfire early Thursday at the airport in Niamey, Niger&#8217;s capital, according to the BBC. &#8220;I heard the first gunshots at<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123462,"featured_media":5461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[325,324],"class_list":["post-5459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-jihadists","tag-nigers-capital","two-columns"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS WERE HEARD AT THE AIRPORT IN THE CAPITAL OF NIGER.\u00a0 - Storyline<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS WERE HEARD AT THE AIRPORT IN THE CAPITAL OF NIGER.\u00a0 - Storyline\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Residents reported hearing explosions and gunfire early Thursday at the airport in Niamey, Niger&#8217;s capital, according to the BBC. &#8220;I heard the first gunshots at\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Storyline\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-18T13:25:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niger-3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"427\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anita Frimpomaa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anita Frimpomaa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Anita Frimpomaa\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74ba744fc856911b2ce26f76e549f8f6\"},\"headline\":\"GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS WERE HEARD AT THE AIRPORT IN THE CAPITAL OF NIGER.\u00a0\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-18T13:25:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/\"},\"wordCount\":296,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niger-3.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"jihadists\",\"Niger's capital\"],\"articleSection\":[\"International\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/\",\"name\":\"GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS WERE HEARD AT THE AIRPORT IN THE CAPITAL OF NIGER.\u00a0 - Storyline\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niger-3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-18T13:25:32+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niger-3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niger-3.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":427},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS WERE HEARD AT THE AIRPORT IN THE CAPITAL OF NIGER.\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/\",\"name\":\"Storyline\",\"description\":\"Latest on news trends and analysis\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"StoryLine\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/storylinegh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/StoryLine-Logo_Full.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/storylinegh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/StoryLine-Logo_Full.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":480,\"caption\":\"StoryLine\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74ba744fc856911b2ce26f76e549f8f6\",\"name\":\"Anita Frimpomaa\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/aa32f00facdf801e537b54b67f2820ae8d763be0c65761ad806db4afe2ef71f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/aa32f00facdf801e537b54b67f2820ae8d763be0c65761ad806db4afe2ef71f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Anita Frimpomaa\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/storylinegh.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/author\/editor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS WERE HEARD AT THE AIRPORT IN THE CAPITAL OF NIGER.\u00a0 - Storyline","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS WERE HEARD AT THE AIRPORT IN THE CAPITAL OF NIGER.\u00a0 - Storyline","og_description":"Residents reported hearing explosions and gunfire early Thursday at the airport in Niamey, Niger&#8217;s capital, according to the BBC. &#8220;I heard the first gunshots at","og_url":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/","og_site_name":"Storyline","article_published_time":"2026-06-18T13:25:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":427,"url":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niger-3.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Anita Frimpomaa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Anita Frimpomaa","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/"},"author":{"name":"Anita Frimpomaa","@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74ba744fc856911b2ce26f76e549f8f6"},"headline":"GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS WERE HEARD AT THE AIRPORT IN THE CAPITAL OF NIGER.\u00a0","datePublished":"2026-06-18T13:25:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/"},"wordCount":296,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niger-3.jpg","keywords":["jihadists","Niger's capital"],"articleSection":["International"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/","url":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/","name":"GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS WERE HEARD AT THE AIRPORT IN THE CAPITAL OF NIGER.\u00a0 - Storyline","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niger-3.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-18T13:25:32+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niger-3.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niger-3.jpg","width":1024,"height":427},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gunfire-and-explosions-were-heard-at-the-airport-in-the-capital-of-niger\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS WERE HEARD AT THE AIRPORT IN THE CAPITAL OF NIGER.\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/","name":"Storyline","description":"Latest on news trends and analysis","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#organization","name":"StoryLine","url":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/storylinegh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/StoryLine-Logo_Full.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/storylinegh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/StoryLine-Logo_Full.png","width":600,"height":480,"caption":"StoryLine"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74ba744fc856911b2ce26f76e549f8f6","name":"Anita Frimpomaa","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/aa32f00facdf801e537b54b67f2820ae8d763be0c65761ad806db4afe2ef71f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/aa32f00facdf801e537b54b67f2820ae8d763be0c65761ad806db4afe2ef71f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Anita Frimpomaa"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/storylinegh.com"],"url":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/author\/editor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5462,"href":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5459\/revisions\/5462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storylinegh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}