Tag Archives: Nigeria

Chad Declares State of Emergency in Boko Haram-hit Region

The Chadian government announced on Monday that officials have declared a state of emergency in the Lake Chad region in the wake of a series of raids and suicide bombings in the area carried out by Boko Haram insurgents.

According to Chad’s Communications Minister Hassan Sylla Bakari, the order, which will come into effect immediately, will grant authorities new powers to search and monitor residents in the region.

While Chad has been instrumental in forcing Boko Haram earlier this year to cede territory in northeastern Nigeria, which effectively undermined the militant group’s six-year campaign to carve out a Nigerian caliphate, ongoing military operations have forced insurgents out of their strongholds and into the border regions around Lake Chad, where they have continued to launch deadly raids and attacks. On Sunday, at least three people were killed in a Chadian village while three Nigerian refugees were killed on Monday in northern Cameroon.

Chad has not implemented a state of emergency since a series of rebellions in the 2000s, which sprang from its volatile east. Neighbouring Niger has also implemented a three-month state of emergency in its border region of Diffa, which in recent months has also been impacted by Boko Haram violence.

Suspected Boko Haram Militants Target Mosque in Cameroon

Military officials reported on Monday that two female suicide bombers suspected of belonging to the Boko Haram militant group blew themselves up on Monday near a mosque in Cameroon’s Far North province.

While officials have disclosed that it was not immediately clear if the explosions caused other fatalities, sources are reporting that Boko Haram militants are likely to be behind the latest attack.

Meanwhile in Senegal, officials disclosed on Monday that they have arrested five people suspected of having links to Boko Haram – a development that could mark a significant expansion of the militant group’s operations. According to a senior justice ministry official, the five were arrested last month in the suburbs of Senegal’s capital city Dakar and in the central town of Kaolak, more than 2,500 km (1,500 miles) from the militant’s base in northeastern Nigeria. The official has disclosed that “we believe those arrested have ties with Boko Haram,” adding that a judge charged them on Friday with alleged relations with a terrorism organization, financing of terrorism and money laundering.

Boko Haram Militants Seize Control of Town in Cameroon

According to security and regional sources, Boko Haram militants on Friday seized control of a town in the far north of Cameroon, which lies on the border with Nigeria.

A security source confirmed Friday that the militants “…now control Kerawa.” The information was also confirmed by another source close to the regional authorities, who indicated that an unspecified number of civilians had been killed in the assault. Local officials reported Friday that Cameroonian soldiers fought Boko Haram militants who raided a village in the Far North region, just a day after a similar attack in the area. According to one local official, “since yesterday, Boko Haram members raided the Kerawa village…They slit the throats of between three and seven people yesterday and killed others.”

Kerawa, which has 50,000 inhabitants, is located in the Kolofata district, which has been regularly targeted by Boko Haram militants. There is a military camp inside the town, which was last hit by a double suicide bombing on 3 September, which claimed at least thirty lives.

Boko Haram Targets Nigerian Capital

Two bomb blasts ripped through the outskirts of the capital Abuja, including one target that was twice hit before by Boko Haram militants.

Friday’s explosions occurred near a police station in Kuje and at a bus stop in Nyanya at about 10:30 PM. The same bus station in Nyanya, which is located to the east of the capital, was targeted twice last year. In the first attack, on 14 April, at least 75 people were killed and it was claimed by the Islamists; while the second attack occurred on 1 May and left at least 16 people dead. Kuje, which is located near Abuja’s airport, is some 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of the city centre. It is also the seat of government. Its prison is reportedly holding dozens of Boko Haram prisoners who have been captured by troops. Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) warned of casualties from the simultaneous explosions in Kuje and Nyanya and likened the explosives used to those in the areas that have ben the worst-hit by the group’s six-year insurgency. According to NEMA spokesman Manzo Ezekiel, “it was not an accidental explosion…definitely it was a bomb,” adding, “at this time we can only confirm the explosions. Our officers are on the ground. There are a number of dead but we can’t say anything about numbers now.” Ezekiel further disclosed that the latest blasts occurred almost simultaneously, adding that it appears to use “the same kind of explosives used in the insurgency.” Abuja was last attacked on 25 June this year, when 22 people were killed in a blast that targeted a popular shopping centre located in the heart of the capital. Boko Haram later claimed responsibility for the attack and a separate strike, which occurred later that day in the Apapa port district of the financial capital, Lagos.

 In a message that was posted on social media on Sunday evening, Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for twin bomb attacks that occurred on the outskirts of Abuja. According to authorities, at least 18 people were killed and 41 injured in the bombings, which occurred on Friday night in Juje and in Nyanya. The claim of responsibility on Twitter was signed by Islamic State in West Afica Province, used by Boko Haram since it pledged alleigants to the militants in Syria and Iraq in March. The message showed photographs of three men in combat fatigues, holding automatic weapons and in frton of the group’s insignia, and claimed that they had carried out “martyrdom operations.” On Saturday, police indicated that “preliminary investigations reveled the bomb blasts were carried out by two suicide bombers – a male and a female.”

Two Blasts Rock Central Nigerian City

According to police officials, two blasts rocked the central Nigerian city of Jos on Sunday, in what is the latest unrest to occur in the region. Emergency services reported Monday that at least 44 people were killed in the twin bomb blasts, which comes after a wave of mass casualty attacks blamed on Boko Haram.

Plateau state police spokesman Abuh Emmanuel confirmed “…that there were two explosions in Jos this evening. One happened at the Bauchi motor park and the other at Yantaya, near the mosque.” He further indicated that he could not immediately state if there were any causalities, adding that police officers have been sent to the scene. On Monday, Mohammed Abdulsalam, from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) disclosed that “at the moment we have 44 dead bodies and 47 others injured from the scenes of the two attacks.”

Witnesses have reported that the first explosion went off around 9:14 PM (2014 GMT) at Bauchi road shopping complex, which is located near the Bauchi motor park and the University of Jos. It targeted the packed Shagalinku restaurant located in the shopping complex, which is popular with travellers from the northeast. One witnesses disclosed that the second explosion was heard four minutes later, adding that it occurred close to the popular Yantaya Mosque. The witness reported that a van and several other vehicles were seen transporting some of the dead and injured to the local hospital. Another witnesses, who was at the Yantaya mosque for the “Tafsir,” or Koran commentary session, reported that a number of attackers opened fire from outside at about 9:20 PM (2020 GMT), adding “they fired an RPG (rocket propelled grenade) at the mosque but it hit a metal bar on the facade and exploded…Many people were killed and injured from the shooting and the explosion.”

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday’s bomb attacks in Jos, which is the capital of Plateau state. Boko Haram however has repeatedly attacked the city in the past. In February, at least seventeen people were killed when a twin blast hit a bus park in the city.

Sunday night’s twin blasts come just hours after a suicide attack on a church in the northeastern city of Potiskum on Sunday, which left five people dead, including the pastor, a woman and two children.

According to an unofficial count, Sunday’s bombings took the death toll from raids, explosions and suicide attacks to 267 this month along, and to 524 since Muhammadu Buhari became president on 29 May. While President Buhari has repeatedly vowed that he will crush the militant’s six-year insurgency, the rising death toll, coupled with increasing attacks and the military being unable to prevent them, the president is now under growing pressure to react quickly.