At least 18 others were injured after the group left for Mali, after a crisis in Terah, the local mayor said.
The French army en route to Mali on Saturday suffered a setback in Niger delay For more than a week with protests in Burkina Faso, the local mayor said three people had been killed and 18 injured.
The relief team, which arrived in Africa on the Ivory Coast last week, crossed Burkina Faso and on Friday entered Niger en route to central Mali.
That is a place in Gao, a French base in Barkhane, which is mobilizing allies in the Sahel region in a crackdown on militias that began in northern Mali about a decade ago.
But clashes erupted in Terah west of Niger on Saturday when the mayor said “three people were killed and 18 injured”, including four who had been evacuated to Niamey’s capital, 200km (120 miles) away.
The French military says it has contacted Niger officials, but “could not confirm this at this time”.
“No French soldier has been injured,” French military spokesman Pascal Ianni told AFP. But “two drivers who were part of the gang were injured by rocks and some civilian vehicles were damaged”.
“The vehicle stopped last night in Tera. This morning, as they were trying to continue on the road to Niamey, 1,000 protesters were stopped and a mob tried to seize the vehicles,” he said.
Nigerian police fired tear gas to disperse protesters, he said.
Later, in the middle of the morning, “tensions escalated” and French troops and soldiers “fired,” Ianni said before more than 100 vehicles arrived.
He denied “false” posts posted on social media that the French army had killed many civilians in Terah.
After arriving in Burkina Faso last week, the group was reduced to a handful of protesters in Bobo-Dioulasso, the country’s second-largest city, and then in Ouagadougou, the capital.
On November 19, several thousand demonstrations blocked the group in Kaya, about 100km (62 miles) north of Ouagadougou.
The next day, local sources said four people had been wounded by gunfire in Kaya, which is still unknown – French and Burkinabe troops fired tear gas and tear gas to disperse the protesters.
Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online.
But rumors have also spread on social media – which was also reported by protesters in Kaya – claiming that the trip was armed with terrorist weapons.
Burkinabe Foreign Minister Alpha Barry denied the allegations on Wednesday and said France had been instrumental in the crisis.
On Friday, Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum offered “thanks” to France and praised his “sacrifices” in the Sahel.
