No fewer than 19 people, including one security personnel member, were killed in a battle against gunmen who attempted to storm the presidential complex in Chad’s capital N’Djamena on Wednesday.
According to the government, 18 attackers were killed by security forces.
AFP reports that gunfire erupted near the site and tanks were seen on the street. Security sources reported that armed men had tried to overrun the complex.
The chad government, while speaking on the attack, disclosed later that 19 people were killed in the fighting, of which 18 were members of the 24-strong commando unit that launched the assault.
Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah, who speaks on behalf of the Chad government, told AFP that “There were 18 dead and six injured” among the attackers “and we suffered one death and three injured, one of them seriously”.
The minister, who appeared in a video posted on Facebook hours after the shooting, surrounded by soldiers and with a gun on his belt, was heard saying “The situation is completely under control… the destabilisation attempt was put down”.
According to a security source, the attackers were members of the Boko Haram jihadist group, which Chadian forces are fighting in the western Lake Chad region that borders Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger.
Meanwhile, the landlocked Chad, currently under military rule, faces regular attacks by Boko Haram.
The country recently ended a military accord with France, a former colonial power, and has been accused of interfering in the conflict ravaging neighbouring Sudan.
Several security sources said that an armed commando unit opened fire inside the presidency on Wednesday evening around 7:45 pm (1845 GMT), before being overpowered by the presidential guard.
All roads leading to the presidency were blocked, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.
As civilians rushed out of the city centre in cars and motorcycles, armed police were seen at several points in the district.
Hours before the fighting broke out, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno and other senior officials.
