Armed men killed four villagers and left another missing in northeastern Ivory Coast near Burkina Faso, the army said Tuesday. The attack comes amid fears of a spillover of the Sahel regions jihadist insurgencies towards coastal West Africa, with Benin and Togo also experiencing a spike in violence.

An attack by unidentified armed men has killed four villagers and left another missing in northeasternIvory CoastnearBurkina Faso, the army said Tuesday, in the West African countrys first such deadly attack since 2021.

Ivory Coast shares a border spanning nearly 600 kilometres (around 370 miles) with Burkina Faso, where jihadist groups are active across much of the junta-run country.

The attack comes as fears grow of a spillover of theSahelregions jihadist insurgencies towards coastal westAfrica, withBeninandTogoalso experiencing a spike in violence.

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It took place in the small village of Difita, two kilometres from the Burkinabe border during the night of Sunday to Monday, the Ivorian armys chief of staff, General Lassina Doumbia, said in a statement.

The toll is four farmers killed, one resident missing, a woman seriously burnt, he said, adding that several huts had been set on fire and livestock taken.

Contacted by AFP, an Ivorian government source raised the possibility that the assault was a revenge attack targeted at people suspected of bringing support to Burkina Fasos Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland.

The civilian volunteer force supports the Burkinabe army deployed in the countrys anti-jihadist fight, and are often accused of rights abuses against civilians.

The Ivorian army said it had deployed air and ground troops against the attackers, who fled before the troops arrived.

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Worrying but under control

An attack in northern Ivory Coast in June 2020 left 14 army personnel dead in Kafolo.

Two soldiers were also killed in March 2021.

Clashes between jihadists and Burkina Fasos Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP) can sometimes take place just a few kilometres over the border from Ivory Coast.

The Burkina Faso-Ivory Coast frontier is itself poorly marked and porous to the various traffickers who criss-cross between the two countries.

Earlier this month, Defence Minister Tene Birahima Ouattara acknowledged that Ivory Coast faced many challenges, including in matters of security.

The situation is worrying but under control, he added in an interview with the Fraternite Matin daily.

Ivory Coast has had tense relations with neighbouring Burkina Faso since a military coup brought Captain Ibrahim Traore to power in the Sahel nation in 2022.

Both countries have traded accusations of attempted destabilisation, with Traore blaming Ivory Coast for harbouring his opponents.

Burkina Faso has been battling jihadist fighters linked to Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group for more than a decade.

Ivory Coast experienced its first deadly jihadist attack in March 2016, when fighters killed 19 people in an assault on Grand-Bassam, a seaside resort near the economic capital Abidjan.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Originally published on France24