Political situation in Niger

Calm has returned to Niger after the coup attempt

On Sunday, the capital of Niger, Niamey, returned to normal life after the weekend's coup attempt, AFP reports.

Intense fighting raged overnight between Friday and Saturday when a group of military coup plotters attacked several locations. They tried to storm the presidential palace and barricaded themselves at an air base at the international airport, where they reportedly took Russian mercenaries hostage.

"We had a hellish night," says a resident near the airport.

The military junta, the president's bodyguards and the Russian mercenaries managed to defeat the rebels, and on Sunday state television showed clips of them surrendering.

Several people were reportedly killed in the fighting.

Source: Coup plotters in Niger held Russians hostage

The soldiers who attempted a coup in Niger this weekend held Russian mercenaries from the Africa Corps hostage at an air base, a diplomatic source told the New York Times.

It happened at Air Base 101, located next to the international airport in the capital, Niamey. Italian soldiers also live on the base.

Niger's military junta managed to repel the coup attempt, with the help of Russian paramilitary forces, and on Sunday it was quiet again in Niamey.

Given the extent of the fighting, experts suspect that the coup plotters belonged to Niger's special forces.