Clashes in Benin over the last week between armed groups and the military left ten dead, including one soldier, as the West African country faces an uptick in attacks on army positions.
While the country’s economic capital Cotonou, in the south, continues to draw in international tourists, Benin’s poorer north has for years now seen such attacks, often blamed by the government on jihadist groups seeking to extend their reach from neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.
Overnight Thursday into Friday, the army launched “an offensive operation” that led to “the neutralization of nine terrorists,” a source close to the military high command told AFP on Saturday.
The operation — which a local source said took place in the commune of Karimama — came after an improvised explosive device left one soldier dead and two others injured in nearby Kantoro.
Both communities are near the border with Niger. While the border near Burkina Faso remains the epicenter of such attacks, communities near the Niger border have seen an uptick in violence recently.
“Offensive aerial operations aided by those on the ground resulted in the destruction of an important logistics hub” belonging to unnamed “terrorists,” an officer told AFP, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Long-running insurgencies in Burkina Faso and Niger have seen Islamic State and Al Qaeda-linked groups seize swathes of rural territory, often capitalizing on long-simmering ethnic or local political disputes as well as weak state presence.
Attacks in Benin’s north have led observers to worry of a spillover of violence in the country.
In February, six Beninese soldiers were killed by unidentified gunmen. The army killed 17 assailants in response.
The month prior, 28 soldiers were killed in an attack claimed by the Al Qaeda-linked Group to Support Islam and Muslims (JNIM).
A diplomatic source told AFP earlier this year that 121 Beninese military personnel had been killed between 2021 and December 2024.
In January 2022 Benin deployed nearly 3,000 troops to secure its borders as part of Operation Mirador.
The country’s authorities also recruited 5,000 additional personnel to reinforce security in the north.
On Thursday, the United States and Benin signed a bilateral cooperation agreement “strengthening collaboration between the Beninese Armed Forces (FAB) and the US Army,” the American embassy said.
Some researchers argue, however, that military-heavy responses in the region have largely failed to solve the underlying political tensions that jihadist groups have used to justify their campaigns and bring in recruits.
