Clearly in Benin as elsewhere in Africa, government troops are no match for the jihadis. Who is training, equipping and paying the jihadis?
“Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group claims deadly Benin attack,” AFP, January 10, 2025 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
COTONOU: An Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group on Friday claimed responsibility for an attack in northern Benin near the borders with Burkina Faso and Niger that killed at least 28 troops this week.
The raid, which was the deadliest the Boniness [sic] army has suffered in years, took place late Wednesday in the border area between Benin and its insurgency-hit neighbours.
Attacks in northern Benin have increased in recent years with authorities accusing the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda groups based in neighbouring countries, including the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (JNIM).
“Our brothers the mujahideen were able to storm a Beninese army post in Oouda in Karimama province,” the JNIM said in a statement cited and translated by the US group Site Intelligence.
The jihadist group, which operates in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, claimed a death toll of more than 30 and said it had seized weapons, ammunition and a drone, according to the statement cited by Site Intelligence.
A high-ranking military official told AFP on Thursday on condition of anonymity that 28 soldiers had been killed.
Beninese authorities, who rarely comment on attacks, reported in April 2023 about 20 cross-border incursions since 2021.
Army chief Colonel Faizou Gomina in a statement late Thursday said his forces had suffered a “very heavy loss”.
Benin in January 2022 launched Operation Mirador to secure its borders amid a surge of jihadist violence in west Africa and deployed nearly 3,000 troops.
The authorities also recruited 5,000 additional personnel to reinforce security in the vulnerable north.
“The position that was attacked… was one of the strongest and most militarised of Operation Mirador,” Gomina added.
A diplomatic source told AFP this week that 121 Beninese military personnel had been killed between 2021 and December 2024….
Gurek says
Clearly, other rich islamic non-African countries are supporting these jihadis. And many Western leaders are sadly complicit in these crimes by remaining silent either out of fear or to not make islam look bad.