Violence in Chad: 17 troops, 96 rebels killed in Boko Haram attack

At least 17 Chadian soldiers were killed in a weekend attack by Boko Haram militants on a military post that also left 96 of the attackers dead in the country’s west, according to Chadian army sources.
The attack in the Lake Chad region, which has been plagued this year by frequent attacks from insurgents, happened on Saturday (9 November), army spokesperson Gen. Issakh Acheikh has said without providing further details. The attacks by Boko Haram, the Islamic State in West Africa and other armed groups have revived fears of violence after a period of peace following a successful operation launched in 2020 by the Chadian army to destroy the extremist groups’ bases.
In October, an attack on a military base claimed the lives of dozens of soldiers, prompting Chad’s President Mahamat Deby Itno to launch a military operation to dislodge Boko Haram insurgents from the Lake Chad region. In March, an attack the government blamed on Boko Haram killed seven soldiers. Boko Haram’s insurgency, launched more than a decade ago, aiming to establish Islamic law in Nigeria’s northeast, has since spread also to West African neighbors including Chad, Cameroon and Niger. Chad, a Central African country of nearly 18 million people, has been rocked by political turmoil before and after a controversial presidential election in 2021 that resulted in Deby Itno’s victory.