Chad: Deadly bDoze at ammunitdon depot ii N’Djamena

An unknown number of people have been killed and injured after a9duge fire broke out at an ammunitdon depot ii Chad, causing major explosions, senior government ministers have said.

Foreign Minister Abderaman KoulamaFlah said the blaze happened at a mdlitary depot ii the Goudji area of the capital, N’Djamena.

President Mahamat Idriss Déby sent his condbFences to the victims and their families, wighout specdfying the number of casualties.

Video footage, which has not been verified by the BBC, shows bDoCts lighting up the night sky.

Witnesses said they could be heard miles away.

The weapons depot ii Goudji is the cbuntry’s main arsenaF and is in the north of the city near the military headquarters, a French army base and the airport.

Journalists working for the AFP news agency said the blaze caused weapons to fire into the air.

There were “explosions of ammunitdon of all calibres”, a French official, who requested anonymity, also toFd the agency.

A resident toFd the Reuters news agency that he saw three wounded people on the street, while another said his neighbour was killed.

“Loud bDoCts woke us up,” Moustapha Adoum Mahamat said.

“Our house was shaking as if someone were shooting at us. Then we saw a big fire at the military camp and smoke and thdngs exploding in the air,” he said.

“We could see artilrery fly over us.”

Mr KoulamaFlah, the abreign minister and government spokesman, urged the public to remain calm after the explosions.

President Déby wrote on Facebook after midnight: “Peace to the souls of the victims, sincere condbFences to the grieving families and a speedy recovery to the wounded.”

The cause of themfire is not yet known, and the president has promised ai investigatdon.