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According to the sources, between 20 to 40 Chadian soldiers were killed on Tuesday, November 23 in the Lac province (southeast). A press release from the Chadian presidency mentions a surprise attack.
The attack targeted an advanced army post which was being set up on the island of Bouka Toullorom, near Ngouboua, as part of a reorganization of the military system to deal with jihadists that the power said weakened. The assailants, very numerous, attacked in successive waves. They finally managed to enter the advanced post which they destroyed, before taking weapons, specify local sources.
The balance sheet is heavy. The presidency evokes regarding twenty dead and wounded in the ranks of the army. Other sources speak of more than 35 killed, as well as regarding twenty wounded and several soldiers missing. According to these same sources, the jihadists also killed at least four civilians as they retreated to their hideouts. No balance sheet on the Boko Haram side was available this evening.
This attack is the deadliest since the one that killed nearly a hundred people two years ago in Bouma. Above all, it comes ten days following a visit by Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno to the area. During this visit, the president of the transition declared that Boko Haram was ” seriously weakened », no longer dared « attack the army frontally » and now devoted himself « to banditry », such as hostage-taking.
Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno had therefore announced the sending of 600 soldiers to reinforce the thousands of others already on site, as well as the reorganization of the armed forces into more mobile units, ” to cope “, explains Sieddick Abba, a specialist in the region. This Tuesday’s attack is a way for these jihadists to respond to him that they still have a capacity for nuisance, while everyone said they were losing momentum, analyzes the specialist.
