At least 15 Chadian soldiers were killed and 32 others injured in clashes between the army and Boko Haram fighters on Saturday, the army spokesperson said, adding that 96 Boko Haram members were also killed .
General Issakh Acheikh did not specify on Sunday the location of the operation or the circumstances.
He told national television that the army had also wounded 11 Boko Haram members and seized weapons and equipment.
“The army assures the population that the situation is under control and that the actions to track down residual elements are continuing within the framework of Operation Haskanite,” declared General Acheikh, in reference to a military operation launched to dislodge the Boko Haram militants from Lake Chad.
The region has been repeatedly attacked by insurgencies, including the Islamic State in West Africa and Boko Haram, which erupted into northeastern Nigeria in 2009 and spread to the western Chad.
Around 40 soldiers were killed in an attack on a military base in the Lake Chad region late last month, after which interim President Mahamat Idriss Deby threatened to withdraw a force from the central African country. multinational security.
Chad is an important ally for French and U.S. forces seeking to combat a 12-year-old jihadist insurgency in West Africa’s Sahel region.
The military juntas that have seized power in recent years in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – whose shared borders have become epicenters of jihadist violence – have turned their backs on the West in favor of Russian support.
Senegal
