Chad's security forces killed 18 out of the 24 attackers who launched an assault on the presidential palace in the capital N'Djamena on Wednesday, AFP reported, citing government spokesman and Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah.
"There were 18 dead and six injured and we suffered one death and three injured, one of them seriously," Koulamallah told the news agency. Prior to this statement, in a video posted on his Facebook page, Koulamallah said that "this whole attempt at destabilization has been thwarted." In the footage, he could be seen with a gun strapped to his hip, surrounded by soldiers in what appears to be the presidential palace courtyard.
The incident coincided with the arrival of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Chad, whose visit "served to strengthen the strong bilateral relations between Chad and China," Koulamallah wrote in an earlier Facebook post.
