Seven Djiboutian soldiers were killed in an attack on their barracks by a rebel group in the early hours of Friday, and six are missing, the defense ministry said.
In a statement, the Ministry of Defense blamed the attack on the Garabtisan base, in the north of this small country in the Horn of Africa, on “Armed FRUD(Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy), describing him as a “terrorist group“.
Although “our soldiers defended themselves valiantly, this attack will have caused the death of seven of our soldiers, (made) 4 wounded as well as 6 missing“, he said, adding that searches were underway to find the missing soldiers and “neutralize these terrorists“. “This band is well known for its heinous and criminal acts of terrorizing and looting the populations of the remote sectors of the country.“, affirmed the ministry.
Recruited from the Afar community in northern Djibouti, the FRUD launched a rebellion against the government in 1991, claiming to want to defend the interests of the Afars against the Issas, the country’s other large ethnic community.
The group then split and, although FRUD is a member of the ruling UMP coalition which supports President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, the armed wing remains committed to armed resistance.
Located on one of the busiest shipping routes in the world, where the Red Sea meets the Gulf of Aden, Djibouti is home to the only American military base in Africa and the largest French military base abroad.
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China, which has major economic interests in the Horn of Africa, has also based its only military base on the continent in Djibouti, where it has a port.