The jihadist group Boko Haram launched a deadly assault on Chadian army forces in the Lake Chad region from Sunday night into Monday morning, leaving around forty soldiers dead, according to a statement from the Chadian Presidency. President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno arrived at the attack site early Monday and announced the launch of “Operation Haskanite” to pursue the attackers and dismantle their remaining strongholds.
The attack took place in Barkaram, an island west of Ngouboua in the Kaya department near the Nigerian border. Local sources report that around 10 p.m., Boko Haram militants attacked a military garrison housing over 200 soldiers. The attackers overran the garrison, seizing weapons and setting fire to vehicles equipped with heavy weaponry before withdrawing.
The Lake Chad region, a vast area of water and marshland scattered with islets, frequently faces attacks from Boko Haram and its splinter group, the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWAP), formed from a split within Boko Haram. The Boko Haram insurgency, which began in Nigeria in 2009, has resulted in over 40,000 deaths and displaced more than two million people, spreading violence into neighboring countries, including Chad.