A horrible explosion that occurred in northern Togo on Monday has killed no fewer than seven people, the military has confirmed, without giving further details about the blast.
Africa Today News, New York gathered that the explosion took plave in Tone prefecture near the border with Burkina Faso, where a Sahel jihadist insurgency is threatening to spill over into coastal West African nations.
Recall that Togo had last month declared a state of emergency in its northern prefectures over the threat of Islamist militant attacks from north of its border.
Togo’s army said in a statement the explosion on Saturday in Margba village in Tone killed seven and wounded two more.
It did not give more details and did not describe it as an attack.
‘An investigation is ongoing to determine the circumstances of this explosion and identify the perpetrators,’ the army statement said.
Eight Togolese soldiers were killed in May in an attack in northern Togo near the border with Burkina Faso.
Togo’s troops are deployed in the north of the country to try and contain a jihadist threat pushing south from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger where militants linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group operate.
Meanwhile, Togo had last week announced that it had joined the Commonwealth becoming the latest nation with no historic ties to Britain to become part of the English-speaking club under the leadership of Queen Elizabeth II.
Africa Today News, New York reports the group of 54 nations made up of mostly former British colonies accepted the application of Togo and Gabon for membership on the final day of its leadership summit which was held in Rwanda.
‘We have admitted Gabon and Togo as new members, and we all welcome them to the Commonwealth family,’ Rwandan President Paul Kagame said at the closing press conference.
The French-speaking West African states are the first new members to join the Commonwealth since Rwanda in 2009.