Suspected Boko Haram terrorists attempted to break into Chad Presidential Palace on Wednesday night after China Foreign Minister, Wang Yi had met with President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno and left for Nigeria to meet with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in continuation of his Africa tour which he started the visit with Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC where he had previous day met with Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah at the old State House.

Chadian government dismissed claims that the attackers were terrorists but failed to state the identities of the 24 armed men widely believed to be members of the Boko Haram sect that stormed the presidential palace, shooting dead two security officers and thus sparked a heavy gunfiring by the Presidential guards who shoot dead 18 out of the 24 suspects and arrested others who sustained injuries.

Hours before the shooting began, Wang had met with President Mahamat Idriss Deby and other senior officials. Deby was inside the complex during the attack, according to government spokesperson Abderaman Koulamallah. Chad says military foiled ‘destabilisation attempt’.

Local media also reported that the attack on the Presidential Palace occurred same Wednesday about 70 French soldiers and 8 tons of cargo have left Ndjamena inline with the end of Chad military relationship with France, which both governments have made some exchange words in recent days.

Chadian Prime Minister Allah-Maye Halina had said: “The deadline for the final withdrawal of French forces from our territory is set for January 31, 2025. This period is neither negotiable nor modifiable”.

Authority said six attackers and three security personnel sustained injuries. Residents near the compound reported hearing heavy gunfire, but the government has assured the public that the situation is under control, with soldiers protecting the president.

Chad’s Foreign Minister and government spokesperson, Abderaman Koulamallah, assured the public that the situation was under control. “The attempt to destabilize has been thwarted,” Koulamallah said in a video statement, flanked by soldiers.

A security source, according to local media said the attackers were members of the Boko Haram jihadist group, but Koulamallah later said they were “probably not” terrorists, describing them as drunken “Pieds Nickeles” — a reference to a French comic featuring hapless crooks.

He said they attacked four guards before entering the presidential complex, where they were “easily overpowered”, adding the surviving assailants were “completely drugged”.

The attack occurred about a week after the African nation held parliamentary elections that were supposed to help restore democracy, but the main opposition party boycotted the polls. Results have not yet been announced, and analysts have said they expect the election to help Deby Itno consolidate his grip on power.

Deby Itno seized power as a military ruler after his father, who spent three decades leading the country, was killed fighting rebels in 2021. 

Deby Itno won a presidential election last year that international observers have said was not credible. 

“Individuals in three vehicles attacked the military camps around the president’s office, but the army neutralized them,” a source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Earlier, residents in the area described hearing loud volleys of gunshots. “I am stuck at Place de Nation in front of the president’s office, because I hear intense gunfire and military vehicles coming from all directions,” said one of the residents, Abbas Mahamout Seid, who had been riding his motorcycle.

President Mahamat Idriss Deby came into power after rebels killed his father, longstanding President Idriss Deby, as he was visiting troops fighting militias in the north of the country in 2021.

The older Deby had ruled Chad – which is rich in oil resources but one of the poorest countries in Africa – since a coup in the early 1990s.

Reuters quoting the criminal prosecutor over the failed attack, reported that: “foiled attack on Chad’s presidential compound overnight was carried out by a group of two dozen armed “ill-intentioned individuals” who were neutralised by security forces, the public prosecutor said on Thursday, though details of the incident remained unclear.

The attack comes at a delicate time for Chad, which recently scrapped a defence cooperation pact with longtime partner France that made it a key Western ally in the fight against Islamist militants in West and Central Africa’s Sahel region.

The region has been riven by insurgencies, including by groups linked to Islamic State, al Qaeda and Boko Haram, for more than a decade.

Military authorities in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, which shares a border with Chad, have recently turned their backs on the West in favour of Russian military support.

Chad’s public prosecutor said 24 armed assailants drove up to the presidential palace on Wednesday evening, feigned a breakdown and attacked security guards manning the gate, killing two and lightly wounded five others as they tried to enter the compound.

Security forces killed 18 of the assailants and wounded six, who were taken to hospital, the prosecutor said.

Investigations have been launched to identify all instigators and accomplices, the prosecutor said in a statement.

In an earlier interview on national television, government spokesperson Abderaman Koulamallah said the assailants, who seemed intoxicated and disorganised, were only armed with knives and machetes.

Security sources and researchers said there was still a lot of confusion surrounding the incident, which sparked speculation it could be linked to jihadist groups, ethnic tensions, or discontent over the fallout of a war in neighbouring Sudan.

“It is too early to draw conclusions over exactly what happened,” a security source in N’Djamena said. Koulamallah said it was “probably not” a terrorist act”, Reuters report ends in quote.