Benin army suffers heavy losses in northern attack

By Pulcherie Adjoha

(Reuters) -Benin's armed forces have suffered heavy losses in an attack on one of their most well-equipped positions in the north, where troops are trying to curb cross-border assaults by Islamist militants, the national guard's chief of staff said on Thursday.

Colonel Faizou Gomina did not share a death toll or details on the location of Wednesday's attack, but the main opposition party, The Democrats, said around 30 soldiers had been killed in the department of Alibori, which shares a border with insurgency-plagued Niger and Burkina Faso.

"We've been dealt a very hard blow," Gomina said in a statement.

He called on military commanders to improve their leadership and tactics.

"The position attacked yesterday was one of the strongest and most militarised," he said. "Wake up, officers and section chiefs. We have battles to win."

Benin and coastal neighbour Togo have both suffered attacks in recent years as groups linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda expanded their presence beyond West Africa's central Sahel region to the north.

(Additional reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan in Bengaluru; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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