Two soldiers on motorcycle patrol in northern Benin were killed on Tuesday by an improvised explosive device, military and police sources said on Wednesday. While on motorcycle patrol Tuesday morning in the commune of Karimama, near the border with Niger, two soldiers died after jumping on a homemade bomb, AFP learned from a military source, a policeman, and a local resident. "We lost two men this Tuesday" who "jumped on a homemade mine", an anonymous military source told AFP. In response to this growing threat of attacks on its soil, Benin launched Operation Mirador in January 2022, a deployment of some 3,000 soldiers to secure the country's borders. A few months ago, it also began recruiting 5,000 additional soldiers to reinforce security in the north.

Source: Ethiopian News December 13, 2023 15:00 UTC