At least 9 dead, including a Frenchman, and 12 injured among the teams in charge of securing the W natural park in northern Benin died after three homemade bomb attacks on Tuesday and Thursday, according to a new report of the Beninese government.

African Parks, the environmental protection NGO which manages the Beninese part of the park which also extends over Burkina Faso and Niger, had first reported Wednesday of 6 dead and 10 injured.

The next day, Paris announced the opening of an investigation into the death of a French national, aged 50, among the victims of this "terrorist attack perpetrated in Park W".

Beninese President Patrice Talon convened an extraordinary council of ministers on Thursday after which a press release reporting a new toll of 9 dead and 12 injured was published in the evening.

"Triple Point"

These are the deadliest attacks ever recorded by Benin, considered an island of stability in West Africa, a region where many jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) organization operate. ).

"The portion of land called 'Triple Point'", a border area between the three countries, "has recently been considered critical because of the terrorist actions observed", explains the secretary general of the government, Edouard Ouin-Ouro, quoted in the press release. .

Left to flush out poachers on Tuesday "a patrol of African Parks Network (APN) rangers came across an improvised explosive device as well as a second patrol in the same circumstances", details the press release.

These two attacks resulted in "a total of eight dead (an APN civilian agent, 5 forest rangers as well as their French instructor, an agent of the Beninese Armed Forces) and 12 injured".

A reconnaissance patrol then "suffered the same fate" on Thursday, "causing a new civilian victim, APN agent, and thus bringing the number of explosive devices by artisanal mines to 3".

Claim

These attacks have not been claimed, but a jihadist insurgency originating in the Sahel has spread to parts of West Africa, including neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso.

The Beninese army has reinforced its presence in the north of the country, after the first two officially recognized jihadist attacks at the end of last year.

Last month, at least two Beninese soldiers were also killed when their vehicle hit an artisanal mine in the Atacora department in the north of the country.

The W National Park, which spans Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger, is stuck to the Pendjari Park where two French tourists were kidnapped by bandits in May 2019.

With AFP

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