A Nigerien anti-junta group loyal to ousted president Mohamed Bazoum said Monday its leader, who was arrested in Libya in February 2025, has been released.
The Patriotic Liberation Front (FPL) was set up a month after the July 2023 military coup that ousted Bazoum, Niger's democratically elected president.
Bazoum has been held in a wing of the presidential palace in Niamey with his wife since the junta seized power.
The FPL's leader Mahamoud Sallah was arrested in late February 2025 in the Libyan town of Qatrun during a raid by the Libyan National Army.
That force is led by Khalifa Haftar, who controls much of the east and south of the country, which borders Niger.
In a statement on social media, the FPL announced "to its fighters and supporters the good news of the release" of Sallah.
It also thanked Saddam Haftar, deputy commander of the Libyan forces and son of Khalifa Haftar.
The FPL said 14 other fighters remained in detention and called for their release.
In May 2025, Saddam Haftar visited Niamey, where he met Niger's junta leader, General Abdourahamane Tiani.
Niger and Libya share a 342-kilometre (212-mile) border, where Nigerien anti-junta groups are active.
The FPL has often claimed attacks on the Nigerien army in the north, as well as the sabotage of a crucial crude oil pipeline to Benin.