Deadly bombings hit market, refugee camp in Chad

Two groups of suicide bombers targeted a busy market and a refugee camp in Chad on Saturday, killing at least 38 people and wounding 51 in what appeared to be coordinated attacks, officials said.

Authorities suspect Boko Haram staged the attacks in the western village of Baga Sola, said military spokesman Col. Azem Agouna Bermandoua, who called it a triple bombing.

A group of female suicide bombers hit the market in Baga Sola when it was at its busiest Saturday, killing at least 16 people, said director general of Chad's gendarmerie, Gen. Banyaman Cossingar. A second group of suicide bombers killed at least 22 people at the nearby refugee camp, he said.

For months, Baga Sola has been home to thousands of people who already had fled deadly Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria. The village is in the Lake Chad region near the border with Nigeria.

While Boko Haram has attacked Chad's capital before, Saturday's bombings appear to be the largest and most elaborate staged yet in the country's lake region.

The armed group has stepped up attacks in Nigeria and neighboring countries including Niger, Cameroon and Chad since Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari took office in May pledging to halt the 6-year-old uprising that Amnesty International says has killed 20,000 people.

The Associated Press