Conflict75,000 Flee Boko Haram in ChadAired September 6, 2026 at 6:53 PM UTCWritten September 6, 2026 at 6:56 PM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:0075,000 people have fled Boko Haram attacks in Chad's Lak province since May.0:04It is the largest displacement wave in the Lake Chad Basin this year, and the aid0:08meant for them cannot reach the very islands they fled.0:11The question is whether help can get to the people the counteroffensive just pushed0:14inland.0:15The escalation began with a night attack on the military base at Barka Taloram on0:19the lake's shore.0:20The army put the toll at 23 soldiers killed and 26 wounded.0:24Other figures from the same day reached at least 24 killed.0:27The president condemned the attack and vowed to continue the fight.0:30Chad declared a state of emergency and three days of national mourning.0:34A competing figure put the toll at 25 dead and 46 wounded.0:40He vowed to continue the fight with renewed determination until the threat is0:44completely eradicated.0:46What followed was an air and ground counteroffensive Chadian fighter jets.0:50Ground forces and watercraft struck suspected camps of Boko Haram and the Islamic0:55State West Africa Province on the lake's islands and marshlands, with support from0:58neighboring Nigeria.1:00Around the 6th of May, a follow-on ambush on the Chukantale waterways killed two1:04Chadian generals.1:05Fleeing fighters and families moved toward the Tunbuns and into northern Borno1:09State, with Doro Naira, Wula Woola, Namina, and the Tunbun settlements named as1:13feared regrouping points.1:14The regional multinational joint task forces cohesion is strained after Niger's1:18earlier withdrawal.1:19A regional operation, Lake Sanity III, had been launched in April.1:23The International Organization for Migration is scaling up food and supply aid, but1:27that reach is narrow.1:29Teams can only work where an area is already assessed as stable and accessible.1:33Islands and zones at risk of infiltration or where the armed presence is unknown are1:38off-limits to routine aid, which is exactly where the most exposed people fled from.1:42Humanitarian financing for the wider basins stood at about a quarter of what was1:46needed by mid-2026.1:48Most of the newly displaced left the islands for towns and villages inland.1:52Before this wave, Lak Province already hosted the bulk of Chad's internally1:56displaced on the order of 220 to 260,000 people.2:00An earlier mapping counted about 22,000 Nigerian refugees around Bagasola and2:04Angala.2:05The strikes that cleared the islands also killed Nigerian fishermen on islands under2:09militant control, prompting United Nations calls for an investigation.2:13Displaced families from both sides of the border described surprise night attacks,2:17homes and food stores burned, families separated in the chaos and kidnapping.2:22One woman said her son's wife was asleep and did not hear the fire, and the bandits2:26kidnapped her before she realized what was happening.2:29Others fled with nothing and could not go back for their children.2:32But there is no official tally of how many people have been moved off the islands,2:36and the agency has released neither a dedicated funding line nor a people-reached2:40figure for this surge.2:42The people most at risk are concentrated in exactly the zones the agency cannot2:46safely operate.2:47The scale of this crisis is already beyond the reach of the support available to2:51meet it.Explore with HeyDexFollow via RSSThe shortThe short ↗