Boko Haram attack on Chadian army garrison kills dozens: govt

An attack by Boko Haram on the Chadian army killed around 40 people overnight near the Nigerian border, the government and local sources said on Monday.

"A garrison housing more than 200 soldiers was targeted by members of Boko Haram" late on Sunday, a local source said.

The presidency said in a statement that the attack struck near Ngouboua in the west of the country, "tragically leaving about 40 people dead".

Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno visited the scene early on Monday and launched an operation "to go after the attackers and track them down in their furthest hideouts", the statement added.

The attack struck at 10:00 pm local time (2100 GMT), local sources said. "Boko Haram members took control of the garrison, seized the weapons, burnt vehicles equipped with heavy arms, and left," said one local source, who asked not to be named.

Regular attacks

A vast expanse of water and swamps, Lake Chad's countless islets serve as hideouts for armed groups, such as Boko Haram and Daesh in West Africa (ISWAP), who make regular attacks on the countries' army and civilians.

Boko Haram launched attacks in Nigeria in 2009, leaving more than 40,000 people dead and displacing two million, and the group 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 attack prompted then-president Idriss Deby Itno — the current president's father — to launch an anti-militancy offensive.

In June, the International Office for Migration (IOM) recorded more than 220,000 people displaced by attacks from armed groups in Lake Chad province.