The U.S. Department of State extended a travel warning for Niger on Monday alerting American citizens to the risks of travel to the country associated with terrorist activity, kidnappings, and high crime.
“The Department recommends U.S. citizens avoid travel to Niger’s border regions, particularly the Malian border area, the Libyan border area, the Diffa region, and Lake Chad Basin area because of activity by various extremist groups including al-Qa’eda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham–Islamic State West Africa (ISIS-WA), ISIS-Greater Sahara (ISIS-GS), ISIS-Libya (ISIS-L), and Boko Haram,” the warning said.
The State Department also announced on Monday that Washington has pledged up to $60 million to support counterterrorism efforts in the Sahel region of Africa, which includes Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mauritania.
Earlier this month, four U.S. service members died, and two others were injured after they were ambushed by some 50 ISIS-affiliated fighters. U.S. authorities are still investigating the incident.