Niger Republic says it will not be involved in any attempt to retake Baga, Borno State from Boko Haram.
BBC reported that bodies lay strewn on the streets of the town following an assault by the sect on Wednesday, with hundreds feared killed.
The town is near the border with Chad and had housed a military base staffed partly by multinational forces.
Soldiers from Niger had been there but were not present when it was attacked.
The withdrawal of the troops from Niger means Nigeria’s neighbour now has no forces directly involved in tackling Boko Haram.
Chad has also withdrawn its forces.
Nigerian officials said that almost all of Baga had been set on fire and militants had raided the surrounding area.
“We have 50 soldiers there and decided to withdraw them after Boko Haram captured Malamfatori town in October and continued to operate in the area with impunity,” Niger Foreign Minister Mohamed Bazoum told the BBC Hausa service:.
“As you know, Baga is under (the control of) Boko Haram terrorists and unless the town is recaptured from them, we will not send back our troops.
“But we are still determined to work with our neighbours Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria to contain the situation – it is a problem for us all.”
A separate French-led initiative called for all four West African countries to contribute 700 troops each to a multinational force against Boko Haram, but no country has implemented the plan.
Niger has blamed Nigeria, saying it has not kept to commitments regarding its own troop levels.
Civilians who fled from Baga this week reported that they had been unable to bury the dead. Corpses littered the town’s streets, said Musa Alhaji Bukar, a senior government official in the area.
Meanwhile, President Paul Biya of Cameroun yesterday launched an appeal for international military help to fight the Islamist sect.
The appeal came after the sect leader Abubakar Shekau threatened in his latest video posted online to target Biya and intensify cross-border raids into the country from Nigeria.
“A global threat calls for a global response. Such should be the response of the international community, including the African Union and our regional organizations,” he said in a New Year speech on Thursday to diplomats at the presidential palace in Yaounde.
Biya lamented that a regional military force against the Islamists had yet to be established.
At least 15 people were killed in an attack on a bus in north Cameroon on New Year’s day.
Biya did not comment on the Shekau video in his speech.
He has already deployed more troops to Cameroun’s Far North region with the soldiers killing hundreds of the terrorists.
New laws aimed at stamping out the militants were also helping, Biya said.
“Although weakened by the losses it has suffered, our foe nonetheless remains capable of bouncing back,” he said.
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