At least 40 soldiers are killed in an attack on a military base, Chad’s president says

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Chad’s presidency says unidentified assailants have killed at least 40 soldiers during an overnight attack on a military base in the country’s west. Chad’s president Idriss Deby visited the base in Barkaram, an island in Chad’s Lake region Monday morning and announced the launch of a military operation to track the assailants. Chad has long battled with an insurgency in the country’s west, near the border with Nigeria. In March, an attack the government blamed on Boko Haram killed seven soldiers reviving fears of violence in the Lake Chad area, after a period of peace following a successful operation launched in 2020 by the Chadian army to destroy the extremist group’s bases there.