COTONOU (Reuters) – Two people were killed and several wounded when Islamist militants attacked an army position in northern Benin on Wednesday night, the army said.
The attack in Porga region was the second in Benin this week, after militants attacked an army patrol in the department of Alibori on Tuesday morning, said army chief Colonel Fructueux Gbaguidi, in an internal statement seen by Reuters.
One jihadist was killed by troops in Tuesday’s attack, he said, and one assailant also died on Wednesday night.
Militant attacks are uncommon in Benin, but groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State are active in its northern neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger and have made increasing incursions south.
Islamist violence has ravaged much of West Africa’s Sahel region, and states such as Benin, Togo, Ivory Coast and Ghana have been on guard for the militants to attempt to extend their reach towards the Gulf of Guinea.
“This new test reminds us in blood and pain that the danger on the ground is real,” said Gbaguidi in his note to officers.
Benin had not reported an Islamist attack since 2019, when two French tourists were kidnapped in a national park and later taken by the militants into Burkina Faso.
Neighbouring Togo last month said it had repelled an attack near its northern border which was the first by suspected Islamists in the country.
(Reporting by Samuel Elijah and Allegresse Sasse; Writing by Nellie Peyton)
