At least forty soldiers are killed in an attack on a military base, Chad’s president says

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Unidentified assailants killed at least 40 soldiers in 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 the Chadian Lakes region, in the early morning and announced the launch of a military operation to hunt down the attackers, a statement from the presidency said.

Chad has long struggled with an insurgency in the west of the country, 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 militant group Boko Haram.

In March, an attack occurred that was blamed on the government Boko Haram killed seven soldiersrekindling fears of violence in the Lake Chad area after a period of peace following a successful operation launched by the Chadian army in 2020 to destroy the extremist group’s bases there. Schools, mosques and churches reopened and humanitarian organizations returned.

Boko Haram, which launched an insurgency against Western education more than a decade ago, is trying to introduce Islamic law in northeastern Nigeria. The insurgency has spread to neighboring West African countries, including Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

Chad, a country of nearly 18 million people, has suffered political unrest both 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 his father’s death in 2021.