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Thursday, 20 August 2026dailybeirut.com
World
Chad's government imposed a 20-day state of emergency in the Lake Region following two Boko Haram attacks that killed at least 26 soldiers.
A 20-day state of emergency has been declared in Chad's Lake Region, effective from midnight on May 7, 2026, until midnight on May 27, following two deadly assaults by Boko Haram militants. The attacks, which occurred on Monday and Wednesday, left at least 26 soldiers dead, according to a government decree announced Thursday evening.
The emergency measures include border closures, a curfew, and the authority to detain suspects, restrict movement of people, vehicles, motorcycles, and speedboats, as stated by government spokesman Qassim Sharif in a televised address on state television.
On Monday evening, an attack on the Barka Tolorum military base killed at least 24 soldiers and wounded several others, a military source reported. In a Facebook post responding to the assault, Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno vowed, "We will continue to fight with firm determination until this threat is completely eliminated."
A separate attack on Wednesday, also claimed by Boko Haram, resulted in the deaths of at least two soldiers in the Lake Chad basin. The government had already declared three days of national mourning following that incident.
Chadian troops are frequently targeted by Boko Haram in the sprawling Lake Chad region, which straddles Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, and Chad. Since 2009, the area has become a jihadist stronghold housing fighters from Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa. In recent months, attacks by the Boko Haram faction "Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'Awati Wal-Jihad" have increased, particularly kidnappings and strikes on military positions.
A particularly bloody assault in October 2024 killed around 40 Chadian soldiers at a military base in the Lake Chad basin. In response, President Déby launched a counteroffensive, pledging to personally oversee the situation for two weeks. By February 2025, after the operation concluded, the military asserted that Boko Haram no longer had "any refuge" on Chadian soil.
