Twenty-eight soldiers died in an attack in northern Benin, a small West African nation increasingly witnessing violence attributed to jihadists based in neighbouring countries, a security source told AFP on Thursday.
The high-ranking official told AFP the strike took place on Wednesday evening near the border with insurgency-hit Burkina Faso and Niger.
Attacks in northern Benin have increased in recent years with authorities accusing members of the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda groups based in neighbouring countries.
“We are continuing cleaning-up operations. Forty assailants have been neutralised so far,” the military source told AFP.
The violence has largely struck the border area with Burkina Faso.
Gunmen in December killed three soldiers who were guarding an oil pipeline in northeast Benin.
In June, seven Beninese troops were killed in an attack at the Pendjari National Park on the border with Burkina Faso.
Beninese authorities, whose comments on such attacks are usually scarce, reported in April 2023 about 20 crossborder incursions since 2021.
A diplomatic source told AFP that 121 Beninese military personnel had been killed between 2021 and December 2024.
(AFP)
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