The Beninese army is deployed in the north of the country to contain the jihadist groups present among its neighbors in Niger and Burkina Faso. It has been the target of several deadly attacks since the end of 2021.
“The Dassari police station experienced an attack in the early morning of this Sunday. Armed men erupted there but the reaction from our side was prompt”told AFP a police officer in the department of Atacora, bordering Burkina Faso, and where the police station is located.
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“The police officers present were in shock”
Two policemen were killed, another was seriously injured and “is in intensive care”said this officer, adding that two assailants had been killed during exchanges of fire.
This assessment was confirmed to AFP by another source with very good knowledge of security issues in northern Benin, but who wishes to remain anonymous.
In the morning, bullet holes were visible on the walls of the police station, as well as bloody clothes scattered on the ground, a resident who visited the site told AFP. His identity is withheld for security reasons.
“The police officers present were in shock”he added.
Contacted by AFP, the Beninese government had not yet reacted early Sunday afternoon.
Several attacks by armed groups in the north
The first known deadly attack in northern Benin dates back to December 2021, when two soldiers were killed in a locality near the border with Burkina Faso, where jihadist groups operate.
The government then announced that it would strengthen its military deployment in the north of the country to secure its borders.
At the end of May, he announced that the country had experienced nearly twenty attacks by armed groups. It was the first time that the government gave an overall assessment of these attacks, even if, at no time, it used the term jihadist.
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Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are struggling with jihadist insurgencies and neighboring states such as Benin, Ghana, Togo and Côte d’Ivoire have been worried for several years about overflows on their territory.
A recent series of border raids in these countries confirmed these fears.
In early May, eight Togolese soldiers were killed in the first official deadly jihadist attack in Togo. It had been claimed by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), the main jihadist alliance in the Sahel, linked to Al-Qaeda.
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