Togolese security forces thwarted an attempt this week by unidentified armed men who had crossed the country’s northern border with Burkina Faso, the government said on Friday, citing the first probable spillover of Islamist militant violence into Togo.

According to the statement, the attackers targeted a security checkpoint in Kpendjal prefecture overnight on Tuesday and were driven back into Burkina Faso with no Togolese deaths.

Togolese security forces thwarted an attempt this week by unidentified armed men who had crossed the country’s northern border with Burkina Faso, the government said on Friday, citing the first probable spillover of Islamist militant violence into Togo.

It said the attackers targeted a security outpost in Kpendjal prefecture overnight on Tuesday and were pushed back into Burkina Faso without any Togolese casualties.

Islamist violence has ravaged Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in West Africa’s Central Sahel region north of Togo.

Despite a costly international military response, the number of attacks in the region increased eightfold from 2015 to 2020 with 5.5 million people displaced, the U.N. humanitarian agency says.