by Admin
Oct 28, 2024
A military base on Barkham Island of Chad was attacked on Sunday evening by militias killing 40 Chadian soldiers after hours of gun battle.
The tragic incident was confirmed by Chadian President Mahamat Deby, who disclosed that no organization has claimed responsibility for the attack but he has ordered the Chadian army to go after the Sunday attackers.
During the president’s visit to the military base, he said “assessing the situation on the ground, paying his respects to the deceased soldiers, showing his compassion to the wounded, and lifting the morale of his brothers-in-arms”.
General Saleh Haggar Tidjani, the LAC regional governor expressed his displeasure about the ugly incident but reassured that peace has been restored back to the Island, he said: “We have many casualties, yes, but the situation is under control and our forces are on the ground pursuing the enemy”.
Sunday’s attack is the deadliest the country has ever experienced since the 2020 deadly attack which claimed the lives of 100 Chadian soldiers during a raid that forced former President Idriss Déby to launch an operation against Islamist jihadists on the border between Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria.
The military base had 200 soldiers stationed to protect the Island from Islamic militants. The attackers had enough time to steal weapons and ammunition from the dead soldiers.
Sunday’s attack is a major blow to the presidency of Mahamat Deby who was an elite seasoned soldier before he became the president.
The United Nations disclosed that over 220,000 Chadians have fled their homes in the last decade due to recurrent terrorist attacks from Islamic jihadists.
It could be recalled that the former president was killed three years ago during military operations against Islamic militias on the Libyan border.
Prodesq war analyst Temitope Oladeji gathered from multiple sources that Sunday’s attack was Boko Haram who came in from Nigerian territory.
This is the first time in a long time Boko Haram has launched a major operation in the past few years due to their internal crises and after suffering from frequent clashes with ISWAP in the Nigerian and Niger territory.