Female suicide bomber kills 10 in Chad capital

A female suicide bomber killed around 10 people at a market in the capital of Chad on Saturday, police said, in the latest attack to hit the country on the frontline in the fight against Boko Haram Islamists.

The woman, wearing a full-face Islamic veil, blew herself up at the entrance to a market in N’Djamena around 8:45 am (0745 GMT), a police official told AFP, adding about 10 people were killed and several injured.

“A woman dressed in a burqa arrived at the entrance to the market and a policeman asked to search her,” the official said. “That’s when she set off the explosives belt.”

Chad banned full-face Islamic veils after twin suicide bombings in mid-June killed 33 people and wounded more than 100 in the capital.

The authorities have blamed the attack on Boko Haram, the Nigerian jihadist group that has carried out multiple suicide bombings inside Nigeria, sometimes by women who hid explosives under modest outer garments.

Chad’s army has spearheaded a regional military effort to fight Boko Haram as the militant sect extended activities beyond Nigeria’s northeastern borders.