{"id":53224,"date":"2025-01-10T13:44:46","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T12:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/?p=53224"},"modified":"2025-01-10T13:44:46","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T12:44:46","slug":"assailants-disorganised-ill-intentioned-and-drunk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/assailants-disorganised-ill-intentioned-and-drunk\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Assailants disorganised, ill-intentioned and drunk\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Foiled ambush of presidential palace in N\u2019Djamena: Foreign minister says assailants did not have war weapons and their attempt was disorganised and \u2018probably not a terrorist attack\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The government of Chad says 18 of 24 assailants have been killed in a foiled attack on the presidential palace.<\/p>\n

The attackers attempted to storm the presidential compound in Chad\u2019s capital, N\u2019Djamena, on Wednesday night but were \u201cneutralised\u201d by security forces.<\/p>\n

One security guard was killed and two injured. Six assailants were wounded. They are in detention.<\/p>\n

Abderaman Koulamallah, the foreign minister of Chad, said in a live broadcast a few hours after the foiled attack that the situation was \u201ccompletely under control\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn attempt at destabilisation has been foiled. Nineteen people died, 18 assailants and one soldier,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He described the assailants, who were armed with knives and machetes \u2013 no firearms \u2013 as \u201cdisorganised, ill-intentioned and drunk\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe attack was a disordered and incomprehensible attempt\u201d carried out by people who were \u201cintoxicated\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey stabbed four guards, killing one and seriously injuring two others. A fourth guard was also injured, but his life is not in danger,\u201d Koulamallah said.<\/p>\n

The assailants managed to penetrate a short distance into the compound before being \u201cneutralised\u201d by security forces.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe destabilisation attempt was put down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI arrived on the scene shortly after the shooting and I was impressed by the military deployment. We have a very good army and the Chadians can sleep soundly. Our country is well guarded.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attack was \u201cprobably not a terrorist act\u201d, Koulamallah said, and referred to the attackers as drunken \u201cPieds Nickeles\u201d, a reference to a French comic featuring hapless crooks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are people who came from a certain neighbourhood of N\u2019Djamena that I will not name,\u201d he said. \u201cThey did not have war weapons, their attempt was disorganised and completely incomprehensible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 24 assailants drove to the compound in a few vehicles that \u201cseemed to break down\u201d at the entrance. They walked to the palace gates and began stabbing security guards. One was killed and two wounded.<\/p>\n

Guards inside the premises shot at the assailants, killing 18 and wounding six.<\/p>\n

President Mahamat D\u00e9by Itno was inside the palace at the time but Koulamallah said he was safe.<\/p>\n

Koulamallah praised the vigilance of palace guards, describing the attackers as disorganised and likely under the influence of alcohol and drugs.<\/p>\n

Omar Yana, a Radio Ndarason International (RNI) journalist in N\u2019Djamena, said the armed men parked close to the presidential palace, pretending that their car was faulty, before launching an attack on security forces guarding the entrance to the palace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe security forces were on high alert and repelled the attack, killing 18 of the 24 armed men.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bursts of gunfire rang out near the presidential compound and the military blocked surrounding streets.<\/p>\n

Yana said the assailants were found to be wearing amulets or talisman charms \u2013 thought to ward off bad luck, evil and danger.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were said to be drunk and there were no signs of them being members of an Islamic sect as people suspected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yana said authorities had not released any further information about the assailants. The motive of the attack was not known \u2013 it was being described as a \u201cdestabilisation attempt\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the chaos of Wednesday night, all is now calm and normalcy has returned. It was a difficult night for the people of N\u2019Djamena, particularly for those living close to the presidential palace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yana said heavy military equipment was deployed and all routes linking to the presidential compound were closed by government forces on Wednesday night. They were later reopened.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs of now, everything has returned to normal, with war trucks being taken back to their former positions and the bodies of the armed men cleared.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those who did not witness what happened, it is as if nothing happened, and they\u2019ve all gone back to their daily routines.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attack came hours after China\u2019s foreign minister, Wang Yi, who was on an official visit to the country, met government officials in N\u2019Djamena. He congratulated President D\u00e9by on reestablishing constitutional order.<\/p>\n

At the end of December, Chad held parliamentary, regional and municipal elections for the first time in more than a decade.<\/p>\n

Officials in N\u2019djamena said the elections would formally end a three-year \u201ctransitional period\u201d that followed the 2021 death of longtime leader Idriss D\u00e9by Itno and the takeover by his son, Mahamat Idriss D\u00e9by, who was confirmed as the country\u2019s president in May last year.<\/p>\n

The December parliamentary elections were boycotted by the main opposition party, Les Transformateurs.<\/p>\n

The results are still pending. Analysts have predicted that the outcome could strengthen D\u00e9by\u2019s hold on power.<\/p>\n

Rights groups said without full opposition participation, the election was not likely to be fair.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AYSHA MUSTAPHA KOLOMI<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Foiled ambush of presidential palace in N\u2019Djamena: Foreign minister says assailants did not have war weapons and their attempt was disorganised and \u2018probably not a terrorist attack\u2019. The government of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":53225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-peace-and-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53224"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53226,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53224\/revisions\/53226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}