Nigeria police make arrests over Boko Haram ‘sleeper cells’ in Abuja area

Two of the blasts rang out from the centre of the market and a third in the street as people fled, security sources said. Dozens of people were killed in multiple bombings in the border town of Baga Sola in October.

Tarka was dispatched by President Mahamadou Issoufou to survey the damage wrought by the jihadists in places like Alibidirim, a village 30 kilometres from the provincial capital of Diffa where four people including the village chief were killed by Boko Haram on November 29 according to state television.

‘Evacuations will have to be done by the army with the assistance of non-governmental organisations and the United Nations to local healthcare centres like Bol, ‘ said Florent Mehaule, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Chad.

General Banyaman Cossingar, Chad gendarmerie director general, confirmed the attack, saying Boko Haram is suspected, the AP news agency reported.

Over 50,000 refugees displaced by Boko Haram are estimated to have arrived in the Lake Chad region since July.

The Nigeria-based terror group has targeted Lake Chad’s islands, which lie in dense swampland, because they are an ideal base for mounting surprise attacks on the countries bordering the lake: Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria.

A new report on global terrorism by the Institute of Economics and Peace reveals that Boko Haram murdered 6,664 people previous year in comparison to ISIS’s 6,073 victims.

At least 17,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since 2009 when the group launched its violent uprising to try to impose extremist Islamist rule in northern Nigeria, according to Amnesty International.

Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroon, and Benin have set up a joint military force to eradicate the Takfiri militant group.

Terror group Boku Haram is suspected in the attack.