Chadian helicopters have struck at least six bases in neighbouring Nigeria used by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram in response to twin bombings in the capital, N’Djamena, this week, the military said.
The air strikes caused “human and material damage,” the Chadian army general staff said on Thursday in a statement read on national radio, without giving further details. There was no independent confirmation of the raids.
At least 27 people, including the four assailants, died in the June 15 suicide bombings targeting police facilities in N’Djamena. Chad is part of a multinational force fighting Boko Haram in the region and says it has killed hundreds of the militants since January.
Chad, a mostly Muslim country, has also banned people from wearing and selling full-face veils, head-to-toe burqas and turbans after the attacks, Prime Minister Kalzeube Pahimi Deubet said in a statement broadcast on national television. “Even the burqas for sale in the markets will be withdrawn,” he said.
Under the measure, ordered by President Idriss Deby, security forces will confiscate and burn any garments on sale and traders who don’t comply will be arrested, he said.
The Chadian government has banned burqas, full face veils and turbans as a result of the attacks.The two simultaneous attacks on Monday were the first of their kind in Chad and appeared to be retaliation by Boko Haram for Chad’s leading role in an offensive against the militants in Nigeria. More than 100 people were injured in the attacks on a central police station and a police school in the capital.
“There has been progress,” said Interior Minister Abderahim Bireme Hamid. “Several suspects . . . have been arrested.” Oil revenues have helped Chad become a military heavyweight and its troops were vital in driving Boko Haram from territory in northern Nigeria this year.
Its capital serves as a command centre for a regional anti-Boko Haram taskforce made up of troops from Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Benin as well as for France’s 000-strong Barkhane mission fighting militancy in the region.
Landlocked Chad is sub-Saharan Africa’s seventh-biggest oil producer, with Glencore, Exxon Mobil and Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional among the companies pumping crude. It’s also one of the most underdeveloped countries in the world, ranking 184th out of 198 on the United Nations Human Development Index.
