One soldier killed in an attack in northern Ivory Coast

One soldier was killed on Monday evening when armed men attacked the northern Ivory Coast town of Tougbo, near the border with Burkina Faso, the army said on Tuesday.

Ivorian troops were already deployed in the town and quickly pushed back the assailants. No civilians were killed, said the head of the armed forces, Lassina Doumbia, in a statement.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but previous attacks in the area have been blamed on jihadists. Armed groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State are active in Ivory Coast’s northern neighbors, Mali and Burkina Faso, and have made incursions south.

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said last month that the country would spend 1% of its GDP this year on equipment to prevent “terrorists” from coming into Ivory Coast, which stands between their bases in the Sahel and the West African coast.