Chad says the army thwarted an armed attack on the presidential complex, killing 19 | news

The attack came just hours after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with government officials in the capital, N’Djamena

At least 19 people were killed in Chad, where security forces said they prevented an attempt by armed fighters Storming the presidential complex In the capital, N’Djamena.

The government said that at least 18 of a force of 24 gunmen were killed in the failed attack on the president’s office on Wednesday evening, and a member of the security forces was also killed in armed battles.

The Chadian Foreign Minister and government spokesman, Abderrahmane Kalamallah, said: “There were 18 dead and six wounded” among the attackers, “and there was one dead and three wounded, one of whom was seriously injured.”

Hours after the shooting, Kalam Allah appeared in a video clip surrounded by soldiers and carrying a gun in his belt, saying: “The situation is completely under control… The attempt to destabilize has been thwarted.”

The attack coincided with an official visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Chad.

Hours before the shooting broke out, Wang Yi met with Chad President Mohamed Idriss Deby And other senior officials. Deby was in the presidential complex at the time of the attack, according to Kalam Allah.

Deby seized power after rebels killed his father, President Idriss Deby, in 2021. The elder Deby had ruled Chad since a coup in the early 1990s.

A security source told Agence France-Presse that the attackers were members of the armed group Boko Haram, but Kalam Allah later said they were “most likely not insurgents”, describing them instead as drunks with “hand-knots” – a reference to a French comic strip in which he appears. . Unlucky scammers.

A security source told Reuters news agency that the incident was likely an “attempted terrorist attack.”

The source, who requested anonymity, said, “Individuals in three vehicles attacked the camps surrounding the president’s office, but the army was able to neutralize them.”

Residents of the area described hearing loud gunfire.

The attack comes less than two weeks after Chad held disputed general elections that the government hailed as a major step toward ending military rule, but which were marked by low turnout and opposition allegations of fraud.

The opposition’s call on voters to boycott the elections left the way open for candidates allied with the president.

The former French colony, rich in oil resources, but one of the poorest countries in Africa, It hosted the last French military bases In the region known as the Sahel, but at the end of November, it ended the defense and security agreements with Paris, describing them as “obsolete.”

About 1,000 French soldiers are stationed in the country and are in the process of withdrawal. Their departure comes after France was expelled from three countries in the Sahel region ruled by military governments hostile to Paris: Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Senegal and Ivory Coast also asked France to evacuate the military bases on their territories.