Chadian security forces killed six militants and lost five officers as they stormed an illegal arms cache east of the capital, the state prosecutor said on Monday.

The operation is the latest by security forces in Chad after suicide bombers killed 34 people in the capital, N’Djamena, on June 15. That attack by suspected Boko Haram militants on two police offices was the largest of its kind in Chad.

Security forces on Sunday arrested 60 suspected militants and dismantled the cell responsible for the attacks, which they said were conducted by militants from Chad, Cameroon, Mali and Nigeria.

“We have counted six (dead) terrorists and five police officers during the police operation on this compound that we had learned was an arms cache,” Alghassim Khamiss told Reuters. The authorities seized a large number of home-made explosives and eight mortars, he said.

Chad has played a leading role in helping Nigerian forces win back territory from Boko Haram, which has mounted a six-year insurgency to carve out an Islamist caliphate in Nigeria’s northeast and attacked neighbours Niger and Cameroon.

The Chadian capital is a command centre for a regional force in the fight.

*Reuters/NAN