Boys admit that 54 soldiers were killed in a border attack by Jinim

The Benin government admitted that 54 soldiers were killed by suspect jihadists in the north of the country last week near the border with Burkina Faso and Niger.

The authorities had said earlier that only eight soldiers were killed.

The revised number makes a bloody known attack since the rebels began working in northern Benin at the beginning of the contract.

The attack was required by a group linked to al-Qaeda-Jama Nasr al-Islam Wall Misslemin (JNIM), which is based in Mali, but has expanded in recent years of its operations to the neighboring countries.

The jihadist group said it had killed 70 soldiers in raids in two military positions in the north, according to the intelligence group.

JNIM is one of several jihadi groups working in the Sahael region in West Africa, especially Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, where military governments are struggling to contain the rebellion.

Benin and Togo have witnessed an increase in jihadist activity in recent years, as groups related to the Islamic State have spread and the base has spread to the south.

“Huge losses for the nation,” presidential spokesman Serge Nonfaiigon wrote at a Facebook post on Wednesday.

Another government spokesman, Wilfred Leander Hunghidi, said that Benin is determined to continue fighting against jihadists.

“We will not surrender … I can assure you that it is sooner or later, sooner or later, we will win,” he said.