Abdoulaye Massalatchi

Several people have been killed in separate suicide bomb attacks in Niger that showed the fight against militants was spreading across West Africa.

Libyan army vehicles have crossed into Niger in what may be a negotiated bid by Muammar Gaddafi to seek refuge in a friendly African state.

Niger's military plans to run the country until politicians agree on a new Constitution and are ready for fresh elections.

Mutinous troops led by an army colonel captured Niger's President Mamadou Tandja on Thursday, and said they were suspending the Constitution.

Smoke was seen rising from the presidential palace amid heavy gunfire in Niger's capital, Niamey, on Thursday in an apparent coup attempt.

Niger's decision to dissolve Parliament has worried investors, businessmen and politicians said on Wednesday.

A West African court of justice convicted the state of Niger on Monday for failing to protect a 12-year-old girl from being sold into slavery.

Tuareg-led rebels in Niger's desert north attacked a military convoy carrying food and provisions to the oasis town of Iferouane, killing at least three soldiers, the government said late on Tuesday. The rebel Niger Movement for Justice said its fighters destroyed nine military vehicles.

Tuareg-led rebels in Niger said late on Tuesday they had killed 15 government soldiers in a clash at Gougaram in the West African country's remote Saharan north, where uranium is mined. The rebel group said a large convoy of military vehicles had advanced towards the town of Iferouane on Monday, prompting Tuesday's clash.

Niger's ruling party has backed growing demands for peace talks with Saharan rebels, piling pressure on President Mamadou Tandja to sit down with the authors of a bloody five-month-old uprising. The Niger Movement for Justice has attacked government and mining interests in Niger's mineral-rich north.