Gunmen have killed seven Benin soldiers in an attack at the Pendjari National Park, near the border with Burkina Faso, security sources said on Wednesday.
Tuesday’s attack is the most recent incident in a border region where Benin is experiencing increasing spillover from a militant insurgency in the Sahel, as well as activity from criminal gangs and smugglers.
No group has claimed responsibility and the army has yet to comment officially.
The countries of West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea—Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Côte d’Ivoire are all preparing for the impact of the growing militant insurgency in the Sahel along their northern borders.
The country borders Burkina Faso and Niger, where insurgent groups are fighting wars.
In May, Beninese troops killed eight suspected insurgents near the border with Niger.
Military authorities in the country have dispatched about 3,000 troops to reinforce the border as part of Operation Mirador to repel threats.
In May 2019, two French nationals were kidnapped in the same park. Their Beninese guide was killed during the incident. However, the pair were freed a week later by French special forces at the same time as a South Korean and an American who had been held captive for 28 days. Two French soldiers were killed during the operation.