The attack on a police station in Tanougou on Wednesday night comes with Benin, northern neighbours Niger and Burkina Faso and Mali further west hit by Islamist violence.

A military source said there were "five dead: two police and three soldiers", adding: "Defence and Security Forces are continuing to search the area."

One local in Tanougou, which lies on the edge the Pendjari National Park and attracts visitors to its forest waterfall, confirmed the incident but could not give a death toll.

There was no immediate comment from the Benin authorities.

In mid-April, 54 soldiers were killed in Benin's W National Park, which straddles the porous border with Niger and Burkina Faso, in an attack on two military posts.

At the start of January, 28 Beninese troops were killed in the same area.

Both attacks were claimed by the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM or JNIM in Arabic) which is affiliated with Al-Qaeda.