Dr. Omar Alieu Touray. ECOWAS Commission president
On April 24, 2025, West Africa’s regional alliance, ECOWAS, slammed a vicious terrorist attack in Benin that left 54 soldiers dead on April 17. The group labeled the strike “cowardly,” warning it was meant to destabilize the region. Carried out by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated JNIM in Park W, close to Benin’s borders with Burkina Faso and Niger, this was the worst attack Benin has faced since jihadists started hitting the country in the early 2020s.
JNIM’s coordinated attack struck military outposts, showcasing their growing boldness. It’s a stark sign of how jihadist violence is creeping south from the Sahel into West Africa’s coastal nations, raising alarm across the region JNIM claimed it killed 70 soldiers, but Beninese authorities confirmed 54 deaths on April 23.
The attack hit military posts at Koudou Falls and Point Triple in Park W, a remote national park in northern Benin, far from the capital, Cotonou. Reuters reported on April 21 that JNIM used an explosive to destroy an armoured vehicle before storming the posts, stealing drones, machine guns, and mortars. Several regional security watchers noted that this loot could boost JNIM’s ability to strike again. The scale of the attack shows the group is growing bolder, pushing deeper into Benin, breaching border security, and establishing footholds along the frontier.
Insurgent raids have have gone up recently in Benin and nearby Togo as militants from JNIM and Islamic State spread south from their strongholds in the Sahel. The BBC reported on April 24 that this was Benin’s worst attack since insurgents arrived early this decade. A diplomatic insider informed AFP that more than 120 Beninese troops have perished since 2021, with a January 2025 assault near the same border claiming roughly 30 lives, per Benin’s opposition group, The Democrats.
As he sympathized with families of victims and the government of Benin, president of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray, reaffirmed the Commission’s dedication to fight terrorism, including the activation of its Standby Force, and called for international help to stamp out terrorism in West Africa.
However, getting the Standby Force up and running has not been easy. A July 2024 Voice of America report questioned its readiness, especially after Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, at the heart of the Sahel’s terrorism crisis, left ECOWAS to form their own security pact, weakening the organisation’s influence. A Nigerian security expert questioned where the force would operate and who would pay for it without these nations. Another security analyst added that ECOWAS has talked about a counter-terrorism force for 15 years with little to show, while groups like JNIM keep gaining ground.
JNIM’s push into Benin is part of a broader 2025 campaign, which has already killed more people than in all of 2024. According to data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), supplemented by casualty figures from the April Park W attack, JNIM attacks in Benin have caused 157 fatalities in 2025, as of April 24, surpassing the 103 fatalities recorded for the entirety of 2024.
A sub-saharan security analyst, Charlie Werb noted that 80 percent of Benin’s soldier deaths from the past three years happened in 2025 alone, signalling a sharp security decline. There have been cases where groups, such as the JNIM cell, Katiba Hanifa, exploit the poor coordination between the armed forces of Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger to carry out attacks.
The recent attack backs up what the Global Terrorism Index warned last year—terrorism in Sub-Saharan Africa is now deadlier than anywhere else, with over half of all global fatalities. ECOWAS is urging regional cooperation, but progress hinges on two big hurdles: settling disputes among member states and rallying international backing. Benin, which sent 3,000 troops in 2022 to stop cross-border attacks, needs better strategies, as Colonel Faizou Gomina, the National Guard’s chief of staff, urged after January’s attack. Losing equipment to JNIM makes this harder and could embolden more strikes.
The April 17 attack is a grim wake-up call for West Africa. ECOWAS appears determined to fight terrorism, but turning that resolve into action means addressing governance gaps, boosting regional cooperation, and getting the Standby Force ready despite political divisions. For Benin and its neighbours, defeating JNIM and other jihadist groups is about more than security. It is about securing stability, progress, and the region’s future.
