Suspected jihadist insurgents have killed eight soldiers in northern Benin, which has seen an increase in deadly Islamist attacks, military sources told AFP on Friday.
In recent months northern Benin has seen an uptick in such assaults on the army, which the government often blames on Islamist militants seeking to extend their reach from neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
This latest offensive, which took place on Thursday, targeted two military outposts in Benin’s W national park and resulted in “eight deaths and 13 wounded”, two military sources said.
They also said that 11 “terrorists” had been killed during the fighting.
The assailants targeted two posts of the Mirador anti-jihadist operation near Koudou Falls in Benin’s border region with Niger and Burkina Faso, one army source said.
Benin deployed nearly 3,000 soldiers in January 2022 for the Mirador operation, before then recruiting another 5,000 soldiers to bolster security in the country’s north.
“The wounded were evacuated to hospitals for treatment. The Benin army is still sweeping the zone to neutralise any enemy presence,” the source added.
While the country’s economic capital Cotonou, in the south, continues to draw in international tourists, attacks like Thursday’s have become a fixture of Benin’s poorer north in recent years.
Authorities blame the recent rise on the spillover of jihadists from Burkina Faso and Niger, both of which have been locked in conflict with militants affiliated to the Islamic State group or Al-Qaeda for more than a decade.
– Epicentre –
The point near where the borders of Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger meet is a hotbed of jihadist activity.
In January, 28 Beninese soldiers were killed in the three borders region in an attack claimed by the Al-Qaeda linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).
The JNIM has not yet claimed responsibility for Thursday’s operation.
But Wamaps, a group of west African journalists who cover security issues in the Sahel, have attributed it to the JNIM’s Katibat Abou Hanifa branch.
In mid-March, Benin’s President Patrice Talon complained that his country’s “deteriorated” relations with Niger and Burkina Faso, both governed by military juntas, was hampering the fight against jihadists.
Since taking power in military coups, Niger and Burkina Faso’s army leaders have turned their backs on the West and the regional bloc ECOWAS, straining ties with many of its west African neighbours.
“There is little intelligence sharing, so Operation Mirador, which is a form of resistance by the Beninese state, is somewhat hampered,” said Lassina Diarra, director of the International Academy for Combating Terrorism (AILCT) in Ivory Coast.
