Residents on an island in Lake Chad were targeted by a triple suicide bombing,, leaving at least 27 dead and 80 others wounded, officials say.
"Three suicide bombers blew themselves up in three different places at the weekly market on Loulou Fou, an island in Lake Chad," the source in the capital N'Djamena said, according to AFP.
He further revealed that the explosions, all carried out by women, had killed 30 people, including the attackers, and left 80 others wounded.
The Lake Chad region, which lies near the borders of Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria, is a regular target for Boko Haram extremists who pledged allegiance to ISIS. Chad's government, imposed a state of emergency in the area on Nov. 9, granting the region's governor the authority to ban the circulation of people and vehicles, to search homes and to seize arms.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but considering the location and nature of the incident, local officials suspect that Boko Haram militants are behind the attacks, ABC News reported.
Boko Haram's uprising, aimed at trying to impose Islamist rule in northern Nigeria, has killed nearly 17,000 since it started in 2009, reported BBC News. In recent months, the extremists have expanded attacks away from its Nigeria stronghold and into Cameroon, Chad and Niger, countries contributing troops to a regional force formed to wipe out the extremists. Forces from Nigeria and neighboring Chad, which has played a key role in the ongoing effort, drove the extremists from northern Nigeria, where they had proclaimed an Islamic caliphate, earlier this yaer.
The attacks come as Nigeria's intelligence agency reports arresting nine alleged Boko Haram extremists plotting attacks on the nation's capital city, Abuja.
