The government said that 19 people, mostly attackers, were killed in an armed attack on the presidential palace in N’Djamena on Thursday morning.
Roadblocks and increased security around the palace were removed as traffic returned to normal, according to AFP journalists on the scene.
The attack started with heavy gunfire near the presidential complex shortly before 8:00 pm local time (1900 GMT) on Wednesday.
According to government spokesman and Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah, a 24-member commando unit, armed with “weapons, machetes, and knives,” targeted the palace guards but was quickly neutralized.
Hours after the shooting stopped, Koulamallah appeared in a Facebook video with soldiers surrounding him and a gun at his belt, saying, “The situation is completely under control.
The destabilization attempt was put down.” He confirmed President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno was inside the presidential palace during the attack, but he withheld further details.
Koulamallah called the attackers, who were dressed in civilian clothing and came from a poor neighborhood in the south of the city, drunken “Pieds Nickelés,” alluding a French comic about foolish crooks.
The authenticity of the incident has been questioned by some opposition figures, despite the government’s version. A spokesman for the Political Actors’ Consultation Group (GCAP), Max Kemkoye, called Thursday’s event a “unfortunate synopsis” and implied that it was a “set up” planned by the powerful.
Koulamallah has announced intentions to inform accredited diplomats later in the day, while the prosecutor is also expected to give a statement regarding the attack.
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