09
Jan
Jan
COUP ATTEMPT IN CHAD LEAVES 19 DEAD, AND SEVERAL INJURED
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Nicolas Adekeye / 2 weeks
- 0
- 2 min read
A daring attack on the presidential complex in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, has left 19 people dead and several others injured. The assault, which occurred on Wednesday evening, was carried out by a group of 24 armed men who attempted to storm the complex. According to government spokesman and Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah, 18 of the attackers were killed, along with one security personnel member. Six attackers were injured, while three security personnel members were also injured, one of them seriously. Koulamallah appeared in a video on Facebook, surrounded by soldiers, saying that “the situation is completely under control… the destabilisation attempt was put down.” He later described the incident as a “little incident” and assured that everything was calm. The attack coincided with an official visit by China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Chad, which has recently ended a defense cooperation pact with France. Chad is a key player in the fight against Islamic militants in West and Central Africa’s troubled Sahel region. President Mahamat Idriss Deby, who seized power after his father’s death in 2021, has been leading the country under military rule. The country faces numerous challenges, including regular attacks by the jihadist Boko Haram group in the Lake Chad region. A security source described the incident as an attempted terrorist attack, saying that individuals in three vehicles attacked the military camps around the president’s office, but the army neutralized them. Residents in the area reported hearing loud volleys of gunshots, with one resident saying, “I am stuck at Place de Nation in front of the president’s office, because I hear intense gunfire and military vehicles coming from all directions.”