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| Niger bombs target Areva mine and military camp | Niger bombs target Areva mine and military camp |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Two bombs have exploded at a military camp and a French-run uranium mine in two towns in north western Niger, officials say. | |
| The bombers killed themselves and wounded a number of others in the attacks in the towns of Agadez and Arlit, Reuters reported. | The bombers killed themselves and wounded a number of others in the attacks in the towns of Agadez and Arlit, Reuters reported. |
| French group Areva said 13 people at its Somair plant in Arlit were hurt. | |
| Niger's government blamed Mujao, a jihadist group from neighbouring Mali, French radio said. | Niger's government blamed Mujao, a jihadist group from neighbouring Mali, French radio said. |
| Kidnapped | |
| Security was stepped up at Areva's Arlit operation - one of the country's biggest uranium mines - in February. Niger provides one-fifth of France's uranium needs, according to French media. | |
| Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou said French special forces had moved in to protect the site after dozens of hostages died when Islamist militants seized a gas plant in Algeria in January. | |
| Five French workers were kidnapped from the Arlit mine by Islamist militants in 2010. | |
| Four of them are still being held and it is believed they could be in northern Mali, close to where French troops were sent to oust al-Qaeda-linked militants in January. | |
| Mujao (the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa) is a splinter group of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) operating mostly in northern Mali. | |
| It says its objective is to spread jihad to West Africa rather than confine itself to the Sahel and Maghreb regions - the main focus of AQIM. |