Nine people have died in an attack on a village in the Lake Chad area that is plagued by violence led by jihadist groups, a local governor and an NGO said Tuesday.
The region borders Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon, and fighters from Boko Haram and a rival splinter group, the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), have used it for years as a haven from which to attack troops and civilians.
“Elements from Boko Haram attacked Kadjigoroum and killed nine people and set fire to the village” on Sunday night, regional governor Mahamat Fadoul Mackaye told Agence France-Presse by telephone.
Chadian authorities use the Boko Haram label to refer to both militant groups.
The head of a local NGO confirmed the attack and death toll at the village, asking not to be identified.
In August, 26 soldiers died in a Boko Haram raid on marshy Lake Chad’s Tchoukou Telia island, about 190 kilometers (120 miles) north of the capital, N’Djamena.
In March 2020, 100 Chadian troops died in an attack on the lake’s Bohoma peninsula, prompting an offensive the following month led by Chad’s then-President Idriss Deby Itno.
After pursuing the militants deep into Niger and Nigeria, Deby said there was “not a single jihadist anywhere” on the Chadian side of the lake region.
The attacks, however, have increased against the army and civilians.
Deby was killed in April 2021 during fighting against rebels in the north and was succeeded by his son, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, as the head of a military junta.
