21 dead in southern Chad as gun attacks ravage villages
N’Djamena, May 13 (EFE).- Suspected armed men from the Central African Republic (CAR) have killed at least 21 people in attacks on multiple villages in southern Chad, a minister told EFE on Saturday.
The attacks took place between May 11 and 12 in at least six towns in the Nya Pendé department in Logone Oriental.
Chadian Justice Minister Mahamat Ahmat Alhabo told EFE that 21 deaths have been recorded as a result of the attacks, and that the perpetrators of the attacks originated from the Central African Republic.
However, no further details were provided regarding the incidents.
The minister further added that security forces have been deployed in the affected area since yesterday to halt any further acts of banditry.
Jean Noe, a teacher from Bekan, one of the villages that was attacked, told EFE that the residents had been subjected to the assaults since Monday.
Noe said eight people lost their lives in Bekan last night.
“The bandits frequently appear during the night, abducting men, killing them, and stealing their cattle. Since Monday, they have already killed a total of 34 people.”
Regions in southern Chad have been facing assaults by armed groups from the neighboring Central African Republic for several months.
Since the start of 2022, these areas have also witnessed confrontations between the Chadian Army and these armed groups.
The Chadian Justice Minister said an inquiry was underway to determine the source and culprits of these massacres.
In the past few months, conflicts between farmers and herders have escalated, particularly in the southern region of the country.
Dozens of rebel groups that endanger the stability of the country operate in Chad, based mainly in the north of the country and in the south of neighboring Libya.
Following violent confrontations between the Chadian Army and the southern Libyan-based rebel group Front for Change and Harmony in Chad (FACT), President Idriss Déby Itno, who had been in power since 1991, was killed in April 2021.
Since then, his son, General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, has ruled the country. EFE
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