Gunmen on pick-up trucks and motorcycles coming from Mali killed 13 gendarmes and wounded five more in an attack on their base in western Niger, security sources said on Saturday.

The village is a few dozen kilometers from where militants killed four U.S. soldiers in an ambush on Oct. 4 that has thrown a spotlight on U.S. counterterrorism mission in Niger, which straddles a large expanse of the Sahara.

Niger's military officials confirmed the attack and death toll but gave no further details.