A dozen soldiers were killed on Tuesday by jihadists who attacked an army post in western Chad.
The attack also caused severalinjuries, a statement by Brah Mahamat disclosed.
It was carried out "early in the morning" at Ngouboua in the Lake Chad region, near the boundaries of Chad, Niger, Cameroon, and Nigeria, where the jihadist groups Boko Haram and its dissident branch Islamic State in West Africa (Iswap) regularly assault militaries and civilians in the four countries.
According to Mahamat, an army unit "deployed as a forerunner to create an outpost on the island of Bouka-Toullorom" was "attacked by elements of the Boko Haram sect."
The Chadian authorities refer to the group of the same name or the Iswap as "Boko Haram."
"All of the ten killed and injured are members of the defence forces," the official told AFP.
Lake Chad is a wide stretch of water and wetlands interspersed with hundreds of islets, some of which serve as Boko Haram and ISWAP militants' hideouts.
"Today, Boko Haram lacks the strength to attack the barracks" in the lake area and is instead attacking "the inhabitants and their property," said Chadian President General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno while visiting the area 10 days ago.
His transitional government has pledged to more than increase the strength of its army by the end of 2022 to combat security concerns, especially those posed by Islamist extremists affiliated with al Qaeda and the Islamic State.
The Boko Haram insurgency, which began in northeast Nigeria in 2009, has killed over 350,000 people and displaced millions.
0 Comment(s)
SPONSORED
HEADLINE
TRENDING