The Al-Qaeda affiliated Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM) has claimed responsibility for the killing of 16 soldiers in Tiwoli, Togo.
The Togolese authorities have not given a toll after the ambush of a group of soldiers on November 24 in Tiwoli, a town near the border with Burkina Faso. According to media reports, several Togolese soldiers were killed in the attack.
In a statement from its propaganda agency, Az-Zallaqa, the jihadist group affiliated to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said it had killed 16 soldiers, set fire to two vehicles and 16 weapons before seizing 24 magazines and five motorbikes.
Last August, the Togolese army claimed to have repelled an attack by “armed terrorist groups” that left “a few wounded” in the village of Blamonga, in the far north of the country. This was the fifth attack since November 2021 in the northern part of Togo, which has been plagued by incursions by jihadist groups across its border in Burkina Faso.
Faced with the growing threat, the coastal states are organising themselves, notably with the Accra initiative launched in 2017 by Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo, to strengthen their security cooperation.
ODL/ac/lb/abj/APA