COTONOU: Suspected jihadist insurgents killed 54 troops in an attack last week on military posts in a Benin national park, the government said Wednesday.
Government spokesman Wilfried Leandre Houngbedji gave the new toll to a press briefing on the April 17 attack in the W national park in northern Benin, close to the frontiers with Burkina Faso and Niger. Authorities had previously said eight soldiers were killed.
This is the heaviest official toll since the start of jihadist attacks in the north.
The attack was claimed by the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM or JNIM in Arabic) which is affiliated with al Qaeda. It had said 70 Beninese soldiers were killed.
“Even if its not the 70 ... it’s a lot,“ the government spokesman acknowledged.
“The soldiers who have fallen are our children, our parents, our friends,“ he said.
The country deployed nearly 3,000 soldiers to secure its borders in January 2022. It later sent an additional 5,000 troops to bolster security in the north.
Twenty-eight Benin soldiers were killed near the border between Benin, Niger and Burkina Faso in January in an attack also claimed by the GSIM.
