Many wounded in suspected Boko Haram attack in Chad

Many wounded in suspected Boko Haram attack in Chad

Many people were wounded in Chad on Saturday in a triple bombing targeting a market and refugee camp in the village of Baga Sola, near the Nigerian border, that security sources blamed on the Nigerian-based Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

“We are still collecting the victims. We don’t have a figure yet (for the number of wounded),” a health worker at a hospital in the border town on Lake Chad told Reuters.

Niger, Cameroon and Chad have all suffered a spillover of violence from Boko Haram’s north Nigerian strongholds.

Chad spearheaded a regional offensive earlier this year that drove the Islamist fighters from many of their bases. However, the group has fought back, launching a wave of cross-border attacks and suicide bombings.

“We heard three explosions. The market is on fire right now,” said one of the security sources.

Niger, Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon and Chad have agreed to establish an 8,700-strong multinational force to take on the militants, though its formation has been delayed.

Chadian President Idriss Deby has said the force could begin operations later this month. (Reporting by Madjiasra Nako; Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Tags:

terrorism Al Shabaab Boko Haram

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