At least 40 soldiers are killed in an attack on a military base, Chad’s president says

Chad’s presidency said at least 40 soldiers were killed by unknown assailants during an attack on a military base in the country’s west on Sunday evening.

President Mahamat Deby Itno visited the base early Monday morning and announced the launch of a military operation to hunt down the attackers.

Chad has long struggled with an insurgency in the west of the country, near the border with Nigeria. In June, nine people were killed and more than forty injured when a fire caused explosions at a military ammunition depot in the capital N’Djamena.

In March, an attack that the government blamed on Boko Haram killed seven soldiers, reigniting 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.