The Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), the main jihadist alliance in the Sahel, linked to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the May attack in northern Togo in which eight Togolese soldiers died. .
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According to a statement authenticated and translated by Site, an American organization specializing in the monitoring of jihadist organizations, the GSIM "
claimed responsibility for the May 11 attack on Togolese forces
" which killed eight soldiers.
The Togolese government had claimed that it was the first deadly “
terrorist
” attack in Togo, where the army has been deployed for several years in the North to face the threat of an overflow of violence from jihadist groups. present in neighboring Burkina Faso.
Fifteen assailants killed
On the night of May 10 to 11, around 60 armed men riding motorbikes attacked a military post in Kpékankandi, in northern Togo, near the border with Burkina Faso, killing eight Togolese soldiers and injuring 13 others. , according to a report communicated by the authorities.
The government later claimed that around 15 assailants had been killed during this attack by the Togolese soldiers.
The press release from the jihadist group quoted by Site does not mention it.
According to the organization, this is the first attack claimed in Togo by the GSIM.
A recent spate of border raids in countries south of the Sahel has confirmed fears that jihadist groups in the region are seeking to advance towards the coast.
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are struggling with jihadist insurgencies and neighboring states such as Ghana, Togo and Côte d'Ivoire are worried about spillovers at their borders.
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In February, Benin has already paid the price after the death in the north of nine people, including a Frenchman, in three homemade bomb attacks, the deadliest in the country.
Born in 2017 from the aggregation of several Sahelian jihadist groups under the authority of Iyad Ag Ghali, a charismatic Tuareg leader who has been omnipresent in Mali since the early 1990s, the GSIM has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda.
