Chadian opposition politician Yaya Dillo was killed on Wednesday during an exchange of fire with security forces, state prosecutor Oumar Mahamat Kedelaye said Thursday.
Heavy gunfire was heard Wednesday in the capital N’Djamena near the headquarters of Dillo’s opposition party. Several people had been killed in earlier clashes near Chad’s internal security agency building.
The violence flared amid tensions ahead of a presidential election set for May and June that could return the Central African state to constitutional rule three years after the military seized power.
Calm had returned to the capital by Thursday morning and residents were going back to work, though internet access, which was blocked a day earlier, had still not been restored.
On Wednesday, the headquarters of the opposition Socialist Party Without Borders, led by Dillo, were cordoned off by security forces. But accounts of the incidents given by the government and the party differed.
