The Sahel nation’s military government had accused Yaya Dillo of leading a deadly attack on a state security agency
Chadian opposition figure Yaya Dillo, who was also the cousin of the Sahel nation’s transitional president, Mahamat Idriss Deby, has been killed in a clash with security forces, authorities announced on Thursday.
The military government accused the leader of the opposition Socialist Party Without Borders (PSF) of leading an armed raid on the National State Security Agency (ANSE) on Wednesday that resulted in the deaths of an unspecified number of people.
State prosecutor Oumar Mahamat Kedelaye told reporters that Dillo was among several people killed when he led the attack on the ANSE.
Earlier on Wednesday, Dillo had denied involvement in the attack, with his last Facebook update announcing that soldiers had surrounded him and others at the PSF headquarters in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena. He also reported that PSF finance secretary Ahmed Torabi, whom the government claimed had been arrested for attempting to assassinate a Supreme Court president, had been shot and killed on Tuesday.
The PSF’s general secretary told Reuters that soldiers had opened fire outside the ANSE building on a group of party members who had gone there to retrieve Torabi’s body.
Heavy gunfire was reported in N’Djamena, near Dillo’s main party office on Wednesday, following the internal security agency headquarters clashes. The opposition PSF headquarters was later cordoned off, according to Reuters.
Chadian Communication Minister Abderaman Koulamallah had said the situation was completely under control, with arrests made and others being sought.