A Boko Haram attack near Lake Chad resulted in the deaths of approximately 40 Chadian soldiers. The assault occurred late Sunday in Ngouboua, near the Nigerian border, with attackers seizing control of a military garrison, taking weapons, and burning armed vehicles before retreating.
Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, who visited the site on Monday, ordered a retaliatory operation to track down the perpetrators. Lake Chad has long served as a strategic hideout for Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa (ISWAP), both of which regularly target military and civilian sites across the region. The area’s difficult terrain provides cover for insurgent groups, contributing to continued instability and displacement, with over 220,000 people forced from their homes in Chad’s Lake Province by ongoing violence.
As a key regional ally, Chad works closely with French and US forces to counter-terrorism in the Sahel, where groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIS have become increasingly active. However, other regional countries, including Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, have shifted alliances, moving away from Western forces in favour of Russian support for security operations.
