An overnight attack on a Chad military base left some 40 soldiers dead, with the African nation pledging to hunt down the assailants. The officials did not say who was responsible, but Boko Haram is active in the region.
Chad’s military often faces attacks in the border area to NigeriaImage: Denis Sassou Gueipeur/AFP
Around 40 soldiers Chad been killed in an overnight attack on a military base in the Lac (“Lake”) border region with Nigeria, Chad presidency said on Monday.
President Mahamat Idriss Deby visited the site early on Monday and ordered a military operation “to pursue and track down the attackers to their last entrenchments,” according to the statement.
The government did not specify who had attacked the army facility, or which forces had been mobilized to respond.
However, the AFP news agency cited unnamed local security sources as saying “Boko Haram elements” were behind the attack. The source said the attackers took control of the base after launching their assault late on Sunday evening. They then allegedly stole weapons they could carry, and burned vehicles equipped with heavy weapons before leaving.
AFP also cited a senior Chadian officer, who it said had requested anonymity, as saying the unit commander was among those killed in the attack.
“We have many casualties, yes, but the situation is under control and our forces are on the ground pursuing the enemy,” the governor of the Lac region, General Saleh Haggar Tidjani, told the AFP.
