By Abdoulaye Massalatchi NIAMEY (Reuters) - Suicide bombers struck a military barracks and a mine run by French nuclear group Areva in Niger on Thursday, killing and wounding several people in separate attacks that showed the fight against Islamist militants was spreading across West Africa. Military sources said several soldiers were killed in a gun battle with Islamists following a car bomb attack at the barracks in Agadez, the largest town in northern Niger. ...

PARIS (Reuters) - A uranium mine in northern Niger run by French nuclear reactor maker Areva is "badly damaged" and has stopped production for the moment after it was attacked earlier in the day, Niger government spokesman Marou Amadou said on Thursday. Speaking on France Inter radio, Amadou said the crushing and grinding units at the Somair mine near Arlit had been particularly hit. "It's enough to stop the mine for now," he said. ...

GROZNY, Russia (AP) — The father of a Chechen immigrant shot dead by U.S. law enforcement agents while being questioned about his ties to a Boston Marathon bombings suspect said Thursday that he regrets allowing his son to go to the United States.