CHAD-BLAST Chad says Boko Haram responsible for bombs that killed 27

Record ID: 151445

  • Title: CHAD-BLAST Chad says Boko Haram responsible for bombs that killed 27
  • Date: 15th June 2015
  • Summary: N'DJAMENA, CHAD (JUNE 15, 2015) (REUTERS) PEOPLE OUTSIDE POLICE HEADQUARTERS
  • Embargoed: 30th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Chad
  • Country: Chad
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5X5VL0F8S7WOGAA73LTD7LR88
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC MATERIAL
    At least 27 people, including four suspected Boko Haram Islamist fighters, were killed and 100 others were wounded on Monday (June 15) in two attacks in Chad's capital, N'Djamena. The government has blamed the attacks on the Nigerian militant group.
    Four suicide bombers attacked police and intelligence offices in Chad's capital N'Djamena, the interior minister told Reuters, the first attack of its kind on the city.
    The attacks included at least one suicide bomb. They are the first of their kind in Chad, an oil-producing nation and a major Western ally which has spearheaded offensives on al Qaeda-linked groups in Mali and on Boko Haram in neighbouring Nigeria.
    One witness at the central police station told Reuters by telephone that he had seen three bodies on the ground. The damaged motorcycles used in the attack were cordoned off in front of the police headquarters as Chad said it formed a special commission to investigate the incident.
    Chad has lost dozens of soldiers fighting in northern Mali and in northern Nigeria. The first known attack by Boko Haram on Chadian soil took place in February on the shores of Lake Chad and has been followed by a handful of other isolated incidents.
    However, despite threats by Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau to strike at Chad in retaliation for its leading role in a regional offensive against the group, N'Djamena had escaped attack so far.
    The riverside city on Cameroon's border is the headquarters for a regional task force grouping troops from Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Benin to fight Boko Haram.
    It also hosts Barkhane, a 3,000-strong French mission set up to fight terrorism across the Sahel-Sahara territorial band.
    One foreign security source had earlier put the death toll more than 40, saying as many as 35 people were killed in two explosions at the police training school after an initial suicide bomb killed seven at a separate location.
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