Chad announces several deaths after foiled intelligence office attack

The attack happened just hours after the announcement that Chad will hold a presidential election on May 6.

An overnight attack on the offices of Chad’s internal security agency in the capital, N’Djamena, has killed several people, the government said on Wednesday, accusing “elements” of an opposition party.

While blaming the assault on the agency, also known by its initials ANSE, on activists from the opposition Socialist Party Without Borders (PSF) headed by Yaya Dillo, the government said “the situation is now completely under control” and “the perpetrators of this act have been arrested or are being sought and will be prosecuted”.

The number of deaths was not given in the statement.

The statement came after a PSF member was arrested and accused of an assassination attempt against the president of the Supreme Court.

The army has been deployed around the main office of the PSF and all roads leading to ANSE are blocked off.

However, Dillo denounced the attack against the Supreme Court president as “staged”.

The ANSE attack comes just hours after the announcement that Chad will hold a presidential election on May 6.

The opposition figure and his fierce opponent, Chad’s transitional President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, intend to contest. Both men are cousins.

Deby Itno came to power after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, was killed while fighting rebels in 2021, after ruling the desert nation for three decades.

The younger Deby had pledged to hand over power to an elected government after 18 months – a deadline that was not achieved before postponing the election to this year.