COTONOU: A jihadist group affiliated with Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the deadly attack this week that occurred in northeastern Benin close to Burkinabe and Niger, killing at least 28 soldiers.
The attack, which was the deadliest the Beninese military has suffered in decades, took area late Wednesday in the border region between Benin and its insurgency-hit mates.
Authorities in northern Benin have recently started to attack the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda affiliates based in neighboring countries, including the Group to Support Islam and Muslims ( JNIM), with the latest reports coming from the GNIM.
The JNIM claimed in a speech cited and translated by the US organization Site Intelligence that “our sons the troops were able to surprise a Beninese military post in Oouda in Karimama province.”
The jihadist party, which operates in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, claimed a death toll of more than 30 and said it had seized munitions, weapons and a aircraft, according to the declaration cited by Site Intelligence.
A senior military official confirmed to AFP that 28 soldiers had died, according to a high-ranking standard who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity on Thursday.
Beninese officials, who often comment on problems, reported in April 2023 about 20 cross-border attacks since 2021.
In a speech released late on Thursday, Colonel Faizou Gomina, the army’s commander, said his troops had suffered a “very large lost.”
In response to a rise of jihadist violence in east Africa, Benin launched Operation Mirador in January 2022 to secure its borders and deployed almost 3, 000 soldiers there.
To improve protection in the flimsy north, the authorities even hired 5, 000 more personnel.
” The place that was attacked… was one of the strongest and most militarised of Operation Mirador”, Gomina added.
Between 2021 and December 2024, 121 Beninese military staff were killed, according to a political cause, according to AFP.
Three Activity Mirador soldiers were killed by gunmen in December, and four others were hurt as they defended an oil pipeline in northeast Benin.
Seven Beninese soldiers were killed in a June-related assault at the border with Burkinabe in Pendjari National Park.
Benin received$ 6.6 million in armoured vehicles and defense equipment in November, while the European Union announced$ 49 million in anti-terror funding for the nation in November.
However, Gomina argued that “equipment alone is not enough to win.”
The key to eradicating this threat is, he added,” the operational posture and the quality of our human resources.”
In recent years, ideology problems have also occurred in neighboring Ghana and Togo.
