Hours before the attack, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with government officials in the capital N’Djamena

At least 19 people killed in Chad as security forces say they thwarted militant attack attempt Storm into the presidential palace in the capital N’Djamena.

The government said at least 18 of 24 armed men were killed in an attempted attack on the presidential office late Wednesday, and that a member of the security forces also died in a shootout.

Abderaman Koulamallah, Chad’s foreign minister and government spokesman, said “18 people were killed and six injured” among the attackers, “one of whom was killed and three injured, one of whom was seriously injured. serious”.

Hours after the shooting, Kuramala appeared in a video surrounded by soldiers with a gun in his belt, saying: “The situation is completely under control… Attempts to destabilize have been suppressed.”

The attack coincided with an official visit to Chad by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Hours before the shooting broke out, Wang Yi met with Chad’s President Mohamed Idris Deby and other senior officials. Kulamala said that Bi was inside the presidential palace when the attack occurred.

Deby seized power in 2021 after rebels killed his father, longtime president Idriss Deby. The elder Deby has ruled Chad since a coup in the early 1990s.

A security source told AFP the attackers were members of the Boko Haram militant group, but Kuramala later said they “probably were not” insurgents and described them as drunken “Pieds Nickeles” – Refers to a French comic about a hapless trickster.

A security source also told Reuters the incident was likely an “attempted terrorist attack.”

“Men in three vehicles attacked military camps surrounding the presidential office, but the army overpowered them,” the source said on condition of anonymity.

Residents in the area reported hearing heavy gunfire.

The attack came less than two weeks after Chad held a disputed election that the government hailed as a key step in ending military rule but with low turnout and accusations of fraud by the opposition.

The opposition has called on voters to boycott the polls, providing an opportunity for candidates aligned with the president.

The former French colony is rich in oil but is one of Africa’s poorest countries. Home of France’s last military base in the Sahel but terminated a defense and security agreement with Paris at the end of November, calling it “obsolete”.

Around 1,000 French military personnel are stationed in the country and are currently being evacuated. Their departure comes after France was driven out of three Sahel countries ruled by military juntas hostile to Paris: Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire have also demanded that France withdraw military bases on their soil.