Three Niger police killed in suspected jihadist attack

Three police were killed in western Niger in a border region that has come under repeated attack from jihadists, local media reported Tuesday.

"It's the police station in the village of Goube which was targeted," the commercial radio station Saraounia said, adding that a fourth policeman was wounded.

Anfani FM, another Niger radio station, gave the same toll.

A security source said "there were fatalities" from Monday night's attack in Tillaberi region, but did not provide details.

Goube, located about 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of the capital Niamey, lies in a region that has suffered repeated attacks from jihadist incursions from neighbouring Mali.

In attacks in this region last October, 12 Nigerien gendarmes were killed and four US troops and four Nigerien soldiers died in an ambush.

Niger is a member of the so-called G5 Sahel group, also comprising Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Mauritania, which are building a joint military force to fight jihadism in the vast Saharan region.