COTONOU (Reuters) – At least one police officer was killed and several wounded in an attack on a police station in north Benin, an area affected by a spillover of militant activity in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, two police sources said on Tuesday.
Unidentified assailants raided the Monsey police station in the northeastern commune of Karimama, less than 50 km (30 miles) from the border with Niger, before sunrise on Tuesday.
A policeman was killed, several others wounded and the police station was set alight, said the sources, who did not wish to be named.
Benin’s army has not officially communicated on the incident and its spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
It was the latest in a string of deadly attacks in northern Benin, where groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State have spread from West Africa’s Sahel region.
Five soldiers were killed earlier this month when an army convoy struck an improvised explosive device planted in northern Benin’s Pendjari National Park.
Growing insecurity in the West African country has pushed park rangers and anti-poaching units to collaborate with army and police forces in their battle against the region’s spiralling insurgency.
(Reporting by Allegresse Sasse; writing by Sofia Christensen; editing by Mark Heinrich)