Attack on a Chad military base kills 40 soldiers, presidency says
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[October 29, 2024]
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Unidentified assailants killed at least 40
soldiers during an overnight attack on a military base in the country’s
west, Chad’s presidency said Monday.
President Mahamat Deby Itno visited the base in Barkaram, an island in
Chad's Lake region, early morning and announced the launch of a military
operation to track the assailants, according to a statement from the
presidency.
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Chadian President Mahamat Deby Itno participates in his inauguration
ceremony in N'djamena, Chad, Thursday, May 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Mouta
Ali, File) |
Chad has long battled with an insurgency in the country’s west,
near the border with Nigeria.
It was not immediately known who was behind the latest attack,
but previous attacks in the region have been blamed by the
government on the Boko Haram militant group.
In March, an attack the government blamed on Boko Haram killed
seven soldiers, reviving fears of violence in the Lake Chad
area, after a period of peace following a successful operation
launched in 2020 by the Chadian army to destroy the extremist
group’s bases there. Schools, mosques and churches reopened and
humanitarian organizations returned.
Boko Haram, which launched an insurgency more than a decade ago
against Western education, seeks to establish Islamic law in
Nigeria’s northeast. The insurgency has spread to West African
neighbors including Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
Chad, a country of nearly 18 million people, has been reeling
from political turmoil before and after a controversial
presidential election that resulted in Deby Itno’s victory. He
had led the country as interim president during the period of
military rule that followed the death of his father in 2021.
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