Police say three villages and a mosque were attacked, and worshippers kidnapped in central Niger State.
![A woman casts her vote at a polling station during the parliamentary election, in Cotonou, Benin, in Janui. [Charles Placide Tossou/ Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/2026-01-11T105525Z_1381494890_RC2YYIAX51ED_RTRMADP_3_BENIN-ELECTION-1768132138.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
Former Liverpool forward Sadio Mane scores the equaliser as Senegal avoid DR Congo upset, while Benin beat Botswana.
Leaders from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are hoping to find a way to repel advancing fighters linked to al-Qaeda.
The regional bloc seemed resigned to the coup crises rocking the region until the Benin attempt this month.
Loyalist troops aided by Nigeria’s air force foiled putsch, but confidence in nation’s democratic stability is shaken.
The failed coup exposed how far Benin’s democracy has already decayed.
President Talon pledges severe punishment for coup plotters after army thwarts attempts to overthrow his government.
Nigeria’s president says he sent fighter jets, troops to Benin to help quell a coup attempt by mutinous soldiers.
Soldiers in Benin appeared on state television to say they had toppled President Patrice Talon and taken power.
President Talon says situation under control after soldiers went on state TV saying he had been removed from power.
