Benin's northern neighbours are insurgency-plagued Burkina Faso and Niger, making it vulnerable to cross-border attacks by groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.

The two officers were travelling by motorbike when they ran into an ambush in Karimama district around 750 km north of the commercial capital Cotonou, Karimama's Second Deputy Mayor Amadou Bonkanon told Reuters.

Bonkanon, who visited the scene of attack, said the assailants had taken the victims' weapons and burnt a motorcycle before they fled.

In June, seven soldiers were killed by attackers suspected of being Islamist militants in northern Benin's Pendjari National Park, according to sources.

--Reuters--