The African country’s military says the assault was carried out on one of its strongest and most militarized positions
The Beninese army has suffered heavy losses resulting from a terrorist attack on a position near the border with Burkina Faso and Niger, according to a statement on Thursday by Colonel Faizou Gomina, chief of the country’s National Guard.
Col. Gomina said the incident in the northern Alibori department on Wednesday “dealt a very heavy blow” to the West African country.
“The position attacked […] was one of the strongest and most militarized,” Gomina reported, encouraging the army to “wake up.”
“We have battles to win,” he stated.
While Col. Gomina did not provide an official death toll, the country’s main opposition party, The Democrats, told Reuters that around 30 soldiers had been killed. AFP also cited a security source as saying 28 Beninese forces died in the assault.
“We are continuing cleaning-up operations. Forty assailants have been neutralized so far,” the unnamed military source told AFP.
The 13.7 million-strong country has in recent years suffered attacks in its north amid escalating spillover of jihadist conflicts in neighboring Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, where extremist groups have been waging violence for over a decade. At least 121 Beninese military officers were killed between 2021 and December 2024, according to a diplomatic source quoted by AFP.
In 2022, the former French colony deployed nearly 3,000 troops to combat cross-border incursions and strengthen security in the north. However, in December, militants reportedly killed three soldiers who were guarding an oil pipeline in the northeast region, following an earlier attack at a national park near the border with Burkina Faso in June.
Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have severed defense ties with some previous partners, namely France and the US, accusing them of failing to end the decade-long violence through a decade-long military mission in the Sahel. The three former French colonies have also recently accused Ukraine of supporting terrorism in the Sahel after officials in Kiev allegedly provided intelligence to rebels for an ambush in late July that killed scores of Malian soldiers, as well as Russian Wagner Group contractors.
Last month, Niger’s transitional leader, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, accused Paris of attempting to destabilize his country and the Sahel region by funding terrorist groups based in Nigeria and Benin. Nigeria’s government denies the allegations.
