Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda-linked terror group, has claimed responsibility for a recent attack in Basso, a border town in Benin Republic located about 15 kilometres from Babana and other communities near Kainji National Park in Nigeria.
In a propaganda message released on 12 June, the group said it had seized control of a Beninese military post in Basso, situated in the Borgou region.
The statement, written in Arabic, did not provide further operational details.
The claim comes amid growing concerns over the group’s expanding influence in West Africa, particularly in the Sahel region, where JNIM controls territories in Mali, Burkina Faso, and parts of northern Benin.
The attack marks the second reported incident near Basso in recent months. In April, the group targeted an armoured personnel carrier belonging to the Beninese military in the same area.
That same month, Premium Times reported that JNIM fighters killed 70 soldiers in coordinated attacks on two military outposts in northern Benin.
Security experts have repeatedly warned that the spillover of violence from the Sahel region could further destabilise Nigeria, particularly states bordering restive zones such as Kwara and Niger.
Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, echoed these fears during a recent summit of the All Progressives Congress (APC), where he spoke about security challenges facing the country under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Ribadu said that instability in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, all currently under military rule, has increased pressure on Nigeria’s northern borders
Meanwhile, new terror cells such as Lakurawa and Mahmuda have emerged, adopting tactics and ideologies similar to global jihadist organisations.
The JNIM was formed in 2017 following the merger of four extremist groups based in Mali — Ansar al-Din, al-Murabitun, the Macina Liberation Front (MLF), and the Sahara branch of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Since then, it has entrenched itself as one of the most dominant terror networks in the Sahel.
In response to the growing cross-border threat, countries in the Lake Chad Basin have relied on the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF).