There was calm in Chad’s capital early Thursday morning after armed men attacked the presidential palace, killing 19 people, mostly the attackers, according to the government.
AFP journalists noted that in the area of the presidential palace, where traffic has returned to normal, the enhanced security measures and roadblocks that were set up late on Wednesday evening were lifted.
Just before 8 p.m. local time (7 p.m. GMT) on Wednesday, heavy gunfire broke out near the presidential compound in central N’Djamena, the capital of the military-ruled Central African country.
Government spokesman Abderaman Koulallah said a 24-man commando unit armed with “guns, machetes and knives” attacked presidential palace guards and was quickly detained.
According to him, the group was dressed in civilian clothes and came from a poor neighborhood in the south of the city.
Koulallah described them as drunken “Pieds Nickeles” – a reference to a French comic strip depicting hapless crooks.
Late Wednesday evening, he said 18 attackers had been killed and six wounded. The presidential guard was also killed and three others were injured.
Hours after the shooting, Koulallah appeared in a video posted on Facebook, surrounded by soldiers and with a gun on his belt, saying: “The situation is completely under control… The attempt at destabilization has been suppressed.”
Koulallah, who is also foreign minister, told AFP that Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno was at the presidential palace at the time of the attack, but gave no further details.
Opposition members expressed doubts about the government’s account of the events.
Max Kemkoye, spokesman for the Consultative Group of Political Actors (GCAP), spoke on Thursday of the “unfortunate summary” and “deal” arranged by those in power.
A government spokesman said it would make a statement to accredited diplomats later in the day. The prosecutor is also expected to submit a statement
