File: Chadian General Brahim Seid (R) is welcommed by Nigerien General Seyni Garba (C) at the airport of Diffa, southeastern Niger, on April 3, 2015, near the Nigerian town of Malam Fatori

Five  Boko Haram suicide bombers have been killed by Nigerien troops in the Diffa region, near the border with Nigeria.

The militants were about to launch an attack, when they were cut short.

But three members of Niger’s defence forces were injured, while five other militants fled the scene.

In a separate attack, three gendarmes were killed  near Niger’s borders with Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Mali, the ministry of defence said in a statement on public television on Thursday.

The attacks highlight the difficulties surrounding border security in West Africa, which has suffered several high-profile extremist attacks in the past five months.

Niger has also been targeted numerous times by Nigeria-based Islamist group Boko Haram, which has launched cross-border attacks in its effort to carve out an emirate in Nigeria’s northeastern region.

One attack took place late on Wednesday in the region bordering Burkina Faso and Mali, launched by assailants who arrived on four motorcycles and a Toyota pick-up.

“The … attack led by armed unidentified individuals took place around 11:10 p.m. (2210 GMT) against a unit of the national gendarmerie who had come to secure the Dolbel market,” said Colonel Ledru Moustapha in the televised statement.

Security forces were searching for the armed men.

Niger’s interior minister Hassoumi Massaoudou ordered the land borders to be closed on Sunday, the day of the second round of the country’s presidential elections, which the opposition has said it will boycott.