BENIN’S army has suffered heavy losses during an attack near the country’s border with Niger and Burkina Faso.

National Guard chief of staff Colonel Faizou Gomina said on Thursday that one of the military’s positions in the Alibori region had been attacked the previous evening.

“We’ve been dealt a very hard blow,” he admitted.

Col Gomina did not say how many Beninese troops had been killed during the attack, but a security source put the death toll at 28.

The chief of staff called on military commanders to improve their operational strategies to counter security threats.

“Wake up, officers and section chiefs, we have battles to win,” he urged.

The security source said: “We are continuing cleaning-up operations,” adding that some “40 assailants have been neutralised so far.”

In recent years, Benin has suffered an increase in attacks from jihadist groups based in neighbouring countries.

At least 120 military personnel were killed between 2021 and the end of last year.

Last month, gunmen killed three soldiers and wounded four others in the country’s north-east.

Benin deployed around 3,000 troops in 2022 in a bid to curb cross-border raids and to reinforce security in the north.