At least 15 Chadian soldiers were killed and 32 others injured in weekend clashes between government military forces and the Boko Haram terrorist group in the Lake Chad region, the military announced on Sunday.
The confrontation also resulted in the deaths of 96 Boko Haram members, with an additional 11 wounded according to a statement by army spokesman General Issakh Acheikh.
The incident came weeks after President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno launched an operation against the terrorist group following an attack last month on a military base in Lac province that killed 40 soldiers.
General Issakh Acheikh assured citizens on national television of the dislodgenent Boko Haram militants from Lake Chad.
“The army assures the population that the situation is under control and that actions to track down residual elements continue as part of Operation Haskanite,” Acheikh said, referring to a military operation launched to dislodge Boko Haram militants from Lake Chad.
The region has been attacked repeatedly by insurgencies including Islamic State in West Africa and Boko Haram, which erupted in northeast Nigeria in 2009 and spread to the west of Chad.
President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno expressed his condolences in a post on Facebook to the families of “the martyrs who fell defending the homeland.”
