Skip to footer

Suicide attack in Chad's capital: A new phase for Boko Haram?

The simultaneous attack on two buildings in Chad's capital, N'Djamena, is the first assault of its kind since Boko Haram threatened the country and its president.

|
Moumine Ngarmbassa/Reuters
Security officers stand at the site of a suicide bombing in N'Djamena, Chad, on Sunday. At least 27 people, including four suspected Boko Haram Islamist fighters, were killed and 100 others were injured on Monday in two attacks in Chad's capital.
  • By Dany Padire Associated Press

| N'Djamena, Chad

Suicide bombers on motorcycles simultaneously attacked two buildings including the national police academy in Chad's capital on Monday, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 100 others in the first assault of its kind since Islamic militants threatened the country earlier this year, witnesses said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but suspicion quickly fell on Boko Haram, the group based in neighboring Nigeria that already has attacked Chadian villages along the lake that divides the two countries.

Chad has been a major military ally in the fight against the insurgent group, and Boko Haram's leader has publicly threatened the Chadian president in retaliation.

Information Minister Hassan Sylla Bakari said at least 23 people had been killed and more than 100 others wounded, in addition to the four dead attackers. Witnesses reported seeing a suicide bomber in each attack; it was not immediately clear what role the other two individuals may have played.

Witnesses said a suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up outside a government building where the head of the national police is based after security officers unsuccessfully tried to subdue the attacker by shooting at him.

A second explosion also went off at the headquarters of the national police academy in the capital at the same time, witnesses said.

Boko Haram's leader back in February had taunted the Chadian president after he contributed forces to the regional effort to quash the extremist group.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Suicide attack in Chad's capital: A new phase for Boko Haram?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2015/0615/Suicide-attack-in-Chad-s-capital-A-new-phase-for-Boko-Haram
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe