Ahmad 
Prominent Chadian dissident Yahya Dilou has been killed in an attack by army forces on his party’s headquarters in Chad.
The attack came just months before elections in May, when Dilou was the main rival to junta chief Mohamed Idriss Deby Itno.
Government spokesman and communications minister Abderrahmane Kalam Allah announced that Yahya Dilou was killed while trying to take refuge at his party’s headquarters, where he refused to surrender and opened fire on law enforcement forces.
Prosecutor Omar Mohamed Cadillai said Dilou was killed in an exchange of fire with security forces. Dilou was accused of leading an attack on Internal Security Agency offices earlier.
Dilou, leader of the opposition Socialist Party Without Borders, has denied any involvement in Tuesday’s attack, which killed several people.
He confirmed in an audio message before his death that there were plans to sabotage the office of the Chief Justice to nullify his candidacy for the presidency.
Another member of Dilo’s party, Ahmed Turabi, was arrested on charges of involvement in the attempted assassination of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, whose body was searched at the security service headquarters resulted in a shooting incident that killed several people.
The attack comes three years after a similar attack on the headquarters of Dilo’s party, which killed his mother and one of his sons.