Cape Town — Colonel Mohamadou Abdramabne, the spokesperson for the Niger junta, accused the French of trying to destabilise the country with an attack to free what he called terrorists. In anyesterday, he said the presidential guard was attacked, but that the death and injury toll had not yet been established.

The colonel said the French forces attacked, using information supplied by European military, to free "imprisoned terrorists". He said the Niger military has details of how the attack was co-ordinated. Seven "terrorist suspects" were apparently freed, but two of them were arrested in Niger. He said on the French dispatched military flight 401 from Ndjamena at 06h01 yesterday, cutting all aerial contact with Niger for more than four hours.

He said the French actions are geared towards discrediting the country's homeland security council, cutting off support received from Burkina Faso and Mali "to isolate the masses and create an atmosphere of insecurity".

The Niger junta spokesperson went on to say that the military will continue to protect the people and assets of the state. "The military is called upon to be more vigilant, the people must stay united and extremely vigilant, and for every competent jurisdiction to seize legal institutions both locally and internationally on the issue," Abdramabne said during the video address.