KIGALI, Rwanda

Niger's army said on Monday it has intensified its search for six missing soldiers following the July 31 attack in which 18 soldiers were killed in the country's southwest.

“Search operations have been intensified in the framework of the G5 Sahel and bilateral cooperation. The Niger army is conducting joint operations with its counterpart in Burkina Faso,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

“The objective is to tighten the noose on terrorist groups that are rampant in the area and are trying to carry out attacks in the face of pressure from the allied forces.”

The army had said that it lost the special forces personnel in an ambush in Torodi, a small town in the Tillabery region, near the border with Burkina Faso.

A landlocked country in West Africa, Niger has in recent years witnessed devastating attacks in its western part, orchestrated by terrorist organizations linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqmi), Ansar Dine and other militant groups based in North Mali.

Hundreds of civilians and soldiers have been killed in those attacks, according to official figures.

The G5 Sahel group, comprising Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, maintains a contingent of 1,200 Chadian soldiers in border regions.