An ambush by a “group of criminals” murdered at least 10 Nigerien soldiers near the country’s border with Burkina Faso this week, according to Niger’s ruling military junta. An intervention team was dispatched to the west of the country on Monday to apprehend thieves stealing cattle in Takzat, a community in western Niger, according to a military announcement broadcast Wednesday night. “It was during the operation that a group of criminals ambushed the detachment of the internal security forces which resulted in the loss of 10 of our soldiers,” according to the statement. It didn’t say who the criminals were. The attackers were able to leave, but the military apprehended and neutralised 15 “terrorists” on Tuesday, the statement stated. Niger, together with its neighbours Burkina Faso and Mali, has for over a decade battled an insurgency fought by militant groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Daesh group.