Terror group Boko Haram have carried out their first known lethal attack in Chad, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.
This is the first known threat from the Nigeria-based Islamist militants in a territory outside Nigeria.
Reports in the last couple of weeks warned of a possible spill over of the insurgency into neighboring nations (Chad, Niger, Cameroon).
The fighters killed four civilians and a soldier in the predawn attack on the fishing village of Ngouboua on the shores of Lake Chad, according to residents and Chadian security sources.
Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland, that news had come in overnight of the attack on Ngouboua and details remained hazy.
“We are still getting information about how many people affected, we know that thousands of refugees were there,” he said.
“The reports that we’ve received, the town was attacked by about 30 militants using boats, they attacked parts of the town itself, the ‘chef de canton’ himself was killed. We were in contact with a refugee during the attack but the phone line went dead. We are still trying to find out more about the situation there.”