A big tragedy hit Chad on Sunday as about 40 soldiers were killed in an attack on a military base in the Lake region, the central African country’s presidency announced on Monday.
Consequently, and according to Reuters, President Mahamat Idriss Deby has launched an operation to track down the assailants and bring them to account. But the statement stopped short of naming the group that masterminded the attack.
Reuters recalls that the Lake Chad Region has been repeatedly attacked by insurgencies including by Islamic State in West Africa, ISWAP, and Boko Haram, which erupted in northeast Nigeria in 2009 and spread to the west of Chad.
Chad is an important ally for French and U.S. forces aiming to fight jihadists in the Sahel, which has become the epicentre of global terrorism under attack by factions loyal to al Qaeda and Islamic State.
Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have ended military operations with the U.S. and France in recent years and turned to Russia for support instead.
