JUST IN: Militants kill eight soldiers in Togo as violence spreads

Suspected militants killed eight soldiers and injured a dozen others in the first such attack in Togo, Nigeria’s neighbour. 

Bloomberg, quoting Television Togolaise, reports that heavily armed assailants attacked the soldiers during a military operation in northern Togo, near the border with Burkina Faso, on Wednesday.

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Togo had previously been spared from attacks by Sahel-based militants linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State that have targeted other coastal states including Ghana, Benin and Ivory Coast.

An attempted raid in November last year was said to have been repelled by the army.