At least 73 soldiers killed in Niger army base attack

An attack on a military base in western Niger has left more than 70 soldiers dead and another 12 more wounded.

Officials said the three-hour assault that took place late Tuesday was carried out by "heavily armed terrorists estimated to number many hundreds".

As many as 57 of the attackers had been killed, but there's still no clarity on which terror group they belonged to.

President Mahamadou Issoufou, who has cut short a trip to Egypt, will chair a meeting of the National Security Council on Thursday.