The west African country, now run by a military junta, has been battling violence by groups linked to Al-Qaeda and Islamic Jihad for the past decade.

Defence Minister General Salifou Modi said in a statement the simultaneous attacks by "several hundred mercenaries" took place in Bouloundjounga and Samira in Gotheye department.

The statement, read on national television, said 10 soldiers were killed and 15 wounded.

"On the enemy side, 41 mercenaries were neutralised," it added.

Gotheye department is near the borders with Mali and Burkina Faso and has long been a zone known for jihadist attacks.

The village of Samira has Niger's only industrial scale gold mining company. Eight of the company's workers were killed in May when their vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb.