A US-based intelligence group, SITE, over the weekend, said an Al Qaeda affiliate, Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) reportedly killed 70 soldiers in raids on two military posts in north Benin.
The intelligence group said this is the biggest death count claimed by jihadists in the country in over a decade of activity in West Africa.
The West African state and its coastal neighbour Togo have suffered a series of attacks in recent years as groups linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda have expanded their presence beyond the Sahel region to the north.
SITE quoted a statement by JNIM last week Thursday saying 70 soldiers were killed in attacks on two military posts in Benin’s northeastern Kandi province in the Alibori department, more than 500 km (300 miles) from the capital Cotonou.
U.S. group SITE tracks online content from militant groups.
The Sahel insurgency took root after a Tuareg rebellion in north Mali in 2012 and spread into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger before reaching the north of coastal West African countries such as Benin more recently.
Thousands have been killed and millions displaced by the conflict, which contributed to spurring five military coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger between 2020 and 2023.
Military authorities cut ties with traditional Western allies such as France and the U.S. after the coups and turned to Russia to help in fighting jihadist activity.
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