Two Benin soldiers were killed Thursday when their vehicle hit a makeshift bomb in the country’s north, near the border with Burkina Faso, military sources told AFP.
“One soldier died on the spot, a second died in hospital and a third is in critical condition,” a senior military official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that there were other injuries.
Another officer confirmed the death toll, saying “it was not an attack, but a military vehicle which ran over an improvised mine while going to carry out an operation”.
The deaths came eight days after President Patrice Talon told parliament that Benin would strengthen its military to stop incursions by militants from neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso.
Benin, which borders three countries battling a militant insurgency that has spread across the Sahel region, has reinforced its military in the north after the nation’s first two officially recognized militant attacks last month.
AFP