Chad’s government on Monday declared state of emergency in the Lake Chad region on the ground that the area has become a gathering point for Boko Haram militants.
The Minister of Communications, Hassan Sylla Bakari, said the state of emergency would empower the governor of the region to prohibit the movement of people and vehicles and order searches of homes during the day and night.
“Boko Haram only remains a threat to the civilian population with suicide bombings which is difficult to prevent.”
He said that members of the sect enjoyed the complicity of some inhabitants of the Lake Chad region, which borders Nigeria, where Boko Haram is based.
The Chadian government had deployed more than 5,000 soldiers to islands and lakeside villages in the region.
In one of the most recent attacks by Boko Haram in the country, at least 41 people died in October when suicide bombers attacked a weekly market in Baga Sola.
Boko Haram, which seeks to establish a state with strict interpretation of Islamic law, had killed thousands of people in Northern Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad. (dpa/NAN)
•Photo shows Boko Haram fighters.
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