Chad’s opposition leader has reportedly been killed in a gunfight

The main opposition leader in the Central African country of Chad was killed on Wednesday during a gun battle at his party’s headquarters in the capital, the country’s prosecutor said.

Yaya Dillo, who was expected to run for president in elections scheduled for May, was among dozens of people killed and injured in an exchange of gunfire with security forces in the capital N’Djamena. On Wednesday, heavy gunfire was heard in N’Djamena and the internet was shut down.

Chad, a landlocked, desert country surrounded by neighboring countries battling insurgencies, plagued by coups or war, has long been seen as a hub for stability and is a key U.S. ally in the region, despite its political challenges.

After his long time president Idriss Déby was killed on the battlefield in 2021, his son took power in what analysts agreed was a coup. But Western countries did not condemn this move to the same extent as they condemned coups in neighboring Niger and Sudan.

The death of Mr Dillo – a former rebel who was the cousin of the country’s president but also his most outspoken critic – leaves a void in Chad’s political opposition, less than three months before national elections are due to be held .

Chadian officials previously said there had been an attack on the country’s National Security Agency, and accused Mr Dillo’s party, the Socialist Party Without Borders, of being behind it – which Mr Dillo denied.

At a news conference broadcast on national television on Thursday, Oumar Mahamat Kedelaye, the national prosecutor, accused Mr Dillo of leading a gang of armed men who had launched an attack on the intelligence service.

“This well-armed group in 11 vehicles attacked the National Security Agency, and this attack resulted in dozens of injuries and deaths, including Yaya Dillo,” Mr. Kedelaye said.