Active in the Sahel for nearly a decade, the Islamic State is now targeting coastal countries, making its latest forays in the West African country of Benin.
In addition to the Support Group to Islam and Muslims (GSIM) close to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Benin must now face attacks from the Sahel branch of the Islamic State.
In issue 356 of its propaganda weekly, seen by APA, the jihadist group claimed responsibility for its first attacks in the northeast of the coastal country.
The Islamic State said the first attack occurred on July 1, 2022 in Fakwara, a village in the Alibori department, 600 kilometres north of the capital Cotonou.
The jihadists added that they killed at least four members of the Beninese security forces in fighting that involved small arms and rockets.
The next day, Beninese soldiers were ambushed near Guéné, on the road linking the towns of Malanville and Kandi, also in the Alibori department.
They allegedly killed two Beninese soldiers.
Cotonou has not yet reacted to the claims of the new enemies of the Beninese state who, according to Wassim Nasr, a journalist at France24 and specialist in jihadist movements, could be defectors from the GSIM.
For months ihadist attacks have been witnessed in northern Benin, mainly in the departments of Atacora and Alibori.
The raiders had come from across the border in neighbouring Burkina Faso.
Faced with this alarming situation, Benin is forging new alliances, including with African countries that have already proven themselves in counter-insurgency.
An agreement with Rwanda, whose troops are already pursuing jihadists in Mozambique’s troubled Cabo Delgado region and the Central African Republic, is in the pipeline for logistical support.
Rwanda sending boots on the ground in Benin is not yet part of the deal, according to Cotonou.
AC/te/lb/as/APA