A man dressed in a woman’s burqa blew himself up in the main market in Chad’s capital N’Djamena early yesterday, killing 14 people and injuring 74, a police spokesman said.
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Troops from Niger, Chad, Nigeria and Cameroon have been fighting Boko Haram insurgents for several months and have claimed a string of successes but the group has recently stepped up strikes, especially suicide bombings, in Nigeria and its neighbouring countries. Chad authorities banned the head-to-toe religious garment last month, citing the risk that attackers could use it as a disguise or hide explosives underneath.
In the attack In Nigeria, as stated by a local police who spoke In the condition of anonymity, all the victims had been shot by the Boko Haram militants when they stormed the village and started fire at fleeing civilians.
“This attack just confirms that a ban” on the full-face veil was justified, national police spokesperson Paul Manga said, adding that “it now must be respected more than ever by the entire population”.
In Maiduguri, two people were killed when two suicide bombers tried to target a busy bus station.
Boko Haram is seeking to carve out an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria. They were deterred by heavy security, however, and the attack happened nearby.
“The fact remains that while Boko Haram continues to be defined as a Nigerian problem, evidence suggests that it has become a quandary of regional proportions requiring a regional solution”.
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Muhammadu Buhari was inaugurated as president on that day and has vowed to end the Islamist insurgency, which has left at least 15,000 dead and made more than 1.5 million people homeless since 2009.
