France says withdrawal of its troops from Niger to start this week

PARIS (Reuters) - The withdrawal of French troops from Niger will start this week, France's armed forces ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Relations between Niger and France, its former colonial ruler which maintained a military presence in the country to help fight Islamist insurgents, have broken down since army officers seized power in Niamey in July.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Nicolas Delame; Editing by Bernadette Baum)