A commando attacked, on the night of Wednesday January 8, 2025, the presidential palace in N’Djamena, the capital of Chad. The attack left 19 people dead, 18 of whom were attackers.
On the night of Wednesday, January 8, 2025, media and social networks were flooded with reports of a terrorist attack in N’Djamena, the capital of Chad. But, on the morning of Thursday January 9, 2025, the Chadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, also government spokesperson, Abderaman Koulamallah,
said the attack was “probably not terrorist.” According to him, it is rather a mysterious commando who attacked the guards on duty in front of the presidential palace in N’Djamena. Gunshots rang out for several minutes in the Djambal Bahr district, near the presidential complex in N’Djamena, said a resident of the district. These shootings have caused concern among the population.
The origin of these shots was not very precise. Videos appearing to come from the area showed heavily armed military vehicles and soldiers in the streets and inside the presidential palace. And the minister spokesperson for the government clarified in an interview that the attack unfortunately left one person dead among the elements of the Republican Guard. On the attackers’ side, 18 of the 24-member commando were killed, according to the government, and six injured. At midday on Thursday January 9, 2025, the government declared that the situation in N’Djamena was under total control. “The situation is completely under control. (…) This entire attempt at destabilization has been eradicated,” said Abderaman Koulamallah, spokesperson for the Chadian government in a video published on social networks. At the same time, the public prosecutor of Chad, Oumar Mahamat Kedelaye, in a press release, announced the opening of an investigation to “search for and identify all the instigators, authors, co-authors and accomplices of the “attack in order to arrest them and apply the rigor of the law.”
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