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| Africa Subsaharan |
| 23 Dead in Suicide Bomb Attacks on Chad Police |
| 2015-06-16 |
| [AnNahar] Twenty-three people were killed on Monday in suicide kabooms targeting police in the Chadian capital that the government said was the work of Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... holy warriors. They were the first such attacks in the capital of the central African nation, which has been on the frontline of the regional fight against the Nigerian Islamist group. "Boko Haram chose the wrong target. These lawless and faithless forces of Evil will be flushed out and neutralized wherever they are," the government said in a statement. It said 23 people were killed and another 101 maimed in the simultaneous bombings outside the police headquarters and police academy in N'Djamena. It said four "terrorists" were also killed, but did not give details. Earlier, a police official had told AFP that two jacket wallahs carried out the attacks, which came as police cadets were attending a training course at the academy. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The government said the situation was quickly brought under control, but the unprecedented assault on the capital prompted the creation of a "crisis cell" and vehicles with darkened windows were banned from N'Djamena. Large numbers of members of Chad's security forces were also seen taking up positions on the streets. President Idriss Deby was expected to return home during the day from an African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... summit in Johannesburg, an official said. In his absence, government ministers held a crisis meeting to discuss the bombings. The former French colony is part of a four-nation coalition also including Nigeria, Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... and Niger that was created to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency after the group stepped up cross-border attacks. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has on several occasions threatened to attack Chad and other countries in the coalition. Gay Paree condemned Monday's blasts, with a foreign ministry front man saying La Belle France "stands alongside Chad and its partners in the fight against terrorism". Chad is a close ally of La Belle France in its counter-terrorism Operation Barkhane in five countries in the Sahel region ... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas... and the French army has set up its headquarters for the campaign in N'Djamena. Last week, Abuja hosted a summit where Nigeria and fellow coalition members plus Benin rubber-stamped an 8,700-strong regional force to replace the current four-nation grouping. The long-awaited Multi-National Joint Task Force, which had originally been due to become operational in November, has its headquarters in N'Djamena, under a senior Nigerian officer. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |