Chad Begs International Community For Assistance As Boko Haram Launches Attack Against Soldiers

Chad has asked the international community to come to its aid after Boko Haram jihadists killed around 40 Chadian troops in a surprise attack.

Naija News understands that the jihadist group had on Sunday targeted a military garrison in the Lake Chad region, an area plagued by various armed groups, in an offensive that killed some 40 “brave Chadian soldiers.”

Chad disclosed the development in a statement published by spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah on Tuesday.

“The government is calling on the international community to intensify its support and to reinforce assistance in counter-terrorism efforts in particular in the Sahel region and Lake Chad basin,” the statement said.

“Determined collective action is essential to eradicate this scourge which threatens the stability and the development of the entire region,” it added.

“Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno on Monday launched an operation to hunt down the attackers and “security forces are currently in full pursuit of the assailants”, the statement also said.

France’s embassy in Chad said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that “France stands with Chad in the fight against terrorism” and offered its condolences to the authorities and the families of the slain troops.

Boko Haram launched an insurgency in Nigeria in 2009, leaving more than 40,000 people dead and displacing two million, and the organisation has since spread to neighbouring countries.

In March 2020, the Chadian army suffered its biggest ever one-day losses in the region, when around 100 troops died in a raid on the lake’s Bohoma peninsula.

The government, as it did at the time, has declared three days of national mourning from Tuesday, with flags flying at half-mast and a ban on celebratory activities.