Chadian authorities said security forces repelled an attempt by armed men to storm the presidential palace in N'Djamena, leaving 18 assailants and two soldiers dead. President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno was inside the complex when the attack unfolded on Wednesday evening, according to the account given by national prosecutor Oumar Kedelaye.
Early reports described sustained gunfire near the presidency and military convoys moving toward the area. Roads leading to the palace were blocked while security forces responded. A security source cited in an initial report said armed men had mounted an assault inside the presidential compound, although authorities had not yet issued a detailed public account at that stage.
Kedelaye said about two dozen attackers approached the palace gates while pretending to have a vehicle breakdown. They were armed with guns, machetes and knives, he said, and attacked guards at the entrance. In addition to the two soldiers killed, five were seriously wounded. Six attackers were wounded, while 18 were killed, according to the prosecutor.
The motive remained unclear in the official account. The available reporting did not establish who directed the attack or identify a group responsible. That uncertainty makes early claims about attribution inappropriate without further evidence.
Government officials sought to reassure residents shortly after the gunfire. Infrastructure Minister Aziz Mahamat Saleh said the situation was under control, while government spokesperson Abderaman Koulamallah described the violence as an unsuccessful attempt at destabilization. By Thursday morning, restrictions around the presidency had been lifted and traffic had resumed.
The assault came less than two weeks after legislative, provincial and local elections that the government presented as a step away from military rule. Opposition groups boycotted the vote and alleged fraud, while turnout was reported as low. Deby first took power in 2021 following the death of his father, Idriss Deby Itno, who had governed Chad for three decades.
The wider security setting was already unsettled. Chad has faced recurring attacks linked to Boko Haram, while its government had recently ended a military cooperation agreement with France. The country has also been affected by instability connected to the war in neighboring Sudan. Those pressures form the backdrop to the palace attack, but officials had not publicly tied the assailants to any one of them in the evidence available.
The immediate sequence also showed how incomplete information shaped the first hours of the crisis. Residents initially heard gunfire and saw armored movement without knowing the scale or identity of the attackers. The government's first messages emphasized calm rather than casualty figures. The prosecutor's account the next day supplied a fuller description, including how the group approached the gates and the losses on both sides.
