West African army chiefs meet in Ghana for Niger talks

The ECOWAS army chiefs' meeting will start at the headquarters of Ghana's armed forces about 0900 GMT on Thursday and end on Friday afternoon.

Niger's junta has said it is open to talks to resolve the situation but it is still detaining deposed President Mohamed Bazoum and has said it will prosecute him for high treason, which has been viewed as a sign it is unwilling to seek a peaceful route out of the crisis.

The African Union, the European Union, the United States and the United Nations have all said they are worried about Bazoum's detention conditions.

Any military intervention could further destabilise the impoverished Sahel region, where an insurgency by groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State has displaced millions in the past decade and fuelled a hunger crisis.

US, French, German and Italian troops are based in Niger as part of international efforts to combat the insurgency. 

The country also has strategic importance to global powers due to its uranium and oil deposits.

The meeting comes after Niger's junta said 17 of its soldiers were killed in an ambush by insurgents, the deadliest attack since the July 26 coup.

The ambush took place on Tuesday about 60km from the capital Niamey, in a southwestern area that borders Burkina Faso, the defence ministry said, adding that 100 attackers it referred to as "terrorists" were killed.

"The swift reaction of the soldiers and the air-land response at the scene of the skirmish enabled the enemy to be dealt with," the ministry said on Wednesday.

ECOWAS said it had learned with sadness of various attacks by armed groups that had led to the death of "several" soldiers.

It called on Niger's military leaders to restore constitutional order so they could focus on security, which it said had become increasingly fragile since the coup.