A triple suicide bombing on an island in Lake Chad on Saturday killed at least 27 people and left more than 80 wounded, a Chadian security source said, in another apparent strike by Boko Haram Muslim militants, despite a regional offensive to stop the insurgency.
“Three suicide bombers blew themselves up in three different places at the weekly market on Loulou Fou, an island in Lake Chad,” said the source in the capital, N’Djamena, speaking on condition of anonymity.
He said that the explosions had killed 30 people, including the three attackers, and injured more than 80 others.
N’Djamena on Nov. 9 declared a state of emergency in the flashpoint Lake Chad region, which also straddles Nigeria, Cameroon and Niger and is frequently targeted by Nigeria’s Boko Haram fighters, who this year declared allegiance to the Islamic State group.
The decree granted the governor of the remote region the authority to ban the circulation of people and vehicles, to search homes and to seize arms.
The EU in a statement said Saturday’s attacks were “a threat to the stability of the country and the region.”
The bloc stood ready to “use all available means to help in the fight against terrorism” in the region, it added.
In recent months, Boko Haram fighters have stepped up attacks and suicide bombings on Chadian villages in the lake region that lie close to the frontier with Nigeria. The deadliest attack on Chad’s side of the lake took place on Oct. 10 — another triple suicide — which killed 41 people at Baga Sola, according to N’Djamena.
Since the start of the year, the Chadian army has been on the front line of a regional military operation against Boko Haram, whose attacks have spread from northeast Nigeria — its traditional stronghold — to the nation’s three Lake Chad neighbors.
The joint operation of the four Lake Chad nations plus Benin has involved 8,700 soldiers, police and civilians.
Despite being hit hard by the offensive, losing territory, Boko Haram has responded with a wave of attacks and bombings. Their attacks are often carried out by young women or adolescent boys targeting markets, which are at the heart of African daily life.
Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno recently said that the regional force, which is not yet fully operational, “has without a doubt weakened” the militants, but “it has not defeated” them.
Still, Cameroon — part of the regional offensive — on Wednesday claimed to have dealt a major blow to Boko Haram, killing about 100 fighters and freeing 900 hostages in a three-day operation last week.
The claim comes on the heels of twin attacks by women suicide bombers the previous day in the far north of Cameroon — an area repeatedly targeted by militants — in which at least six people died.
No independent confirmation of the Cameroonian government’s statement was immediately available from the region, which is inaccessible to the media.
Boko Haram fighters, believed to be hiding out in Nigeria’s Sambisa Forest and the Lake Chad’s many islands, are held responsible for 17,000 deaths and for making 2.5 million people homeless in their six-year campaign of violence.
Over the past year, Boko Haram has stepped up cross-border attacks in Niger, Chad and Cameroon, while also continuing to mount shooting and suicide assaults on markets, mosques and other mostly civilian targets within Nigeria itself.
MONEY GRAB: People were rushing to collect bills scattered on the ground after the plane transporting money crashed, which an official said hindered rescue efforts A cargo plane carrying money on Friday crashed near Bolivia’s capital, damaging about a dozen vehicles on highway, scattering bills on the ground and leaving at least 15 people dead and others injured, an official said. Bolivian Minister of Defense Marcelo Salinas said the Hercules C-130 plane was transporting newly printed Bolivian currency when it “landed and veered off the runway” at an airport in El Alto, a city adjacent to La Paz, before ending up in a nearby field. Firefighters managed to put out the flames that engulfed the aircraft. Fire chief Pavel Tovar said at least 15 people died, but
LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER: By showing Ju-ae’s ability to handle a weapon, the photos ‘suggest she is indeed receiving training as a successor,’ an academic said North Korea on Saturday released a rare image of leader Kim Jong-un’s teenage daughter firing a rifle at a shooting range, adding to speculation that she is being groomed as his successor. Kim’s daughter, Ju-ae, has long been seen as the next in line to rule the secretive, nuclear-armed state, and took part in a string of recent high-profile outings, including last week’s military parade marking the closing stages of North Korea’s key party congress. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a photo of Ju-ae shooting a rifle at an outdoor shooting range, peering through a rifle scope
India and Canada yesterday reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power, the countries’ leaders said in New Delhi. The pacts, which also covered technology and promoting the use of renewable energy, were announced after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed a fresh start in the relationship between their nations. “Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust and positivity,” Modi said. Carney’s visit is a key step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
RSS