Togo's government announced a "state of security emergency" in its northern border area on Monday to allow its armed forces additional leeway in dealing with Islamist assaults.
In May, eight Togolese were murdered in an attack claimed by Mali-based Al-Qaeda terrorists in a northern village near the Burkina Faso border.
Jihadist organizations in the Sahel have been growing in strength and posing a growing danger to the coastal West African governments of Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, and Togo.
The government announced a state of security emergency in the Savannah area, which includes the country's most northern provinces, during a Monday cabinet meeting.
"It will improve decision-making speed and agility for public services, defense, and security forces," the report said. The measure, according to government spokeswoman Akodah Ayewouadan, would last three months and might be extended by the national legislature.
The incident was claimed by the Mali-based Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) organization in May.
Officials reported at the time that eight Togolese troops had been killed and another 13 had been injured.
The soldiers were ambushed by a gang of 60 gunmen who arrived on motorcycles, according to a top security source in Togo.
Togolese military repelled an attempt in the northern village of Sanloaga in November last year, making the May attack the first to result in deaths. Benin, a West African neighbor, declared "war" on terrorism in May after suffering roughly 20 attacks, according to the first official count of these assaults.
So far, roughly ten of its soldiers have been slain, according to the statement.
Last December, two troops were murdered along the problematic border with Burkina Faso in Benin's first recorded lethal attack.
To safeguard the border, the administration announced expanded military deployment in the north.
Armed incursions by jihadists affiliated to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) from difficult Sahel countries have also endangered Ghana and the Ivory Coast, raising worries of a southerly push into the Gulf of Guinea.