Sunni Jihadi group Boko Haram, originally from Nigeria, has carried out their first fatal attack in Chad, according to locals and army spokespeople.
The Chadian government and army have recently become the newest addition to a union formed between Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Benin who fight against the jihadist group.
These countries, backed up by the African Union, all have offered their military forces to attack Boko Haram.
According to an army spokesperson, at least five people died in the attack on Chad. Boko Haram’s growing presence is a concern for many countries surrounding Nigeria. In 2014, they kidnapped the wife of Cameroon’s vice-president, and killed 115 soldiers in a December attack in Cameroon.
In the recent attack on Chad, the terrorist group lit up houses of civilians and allegedly attacked a police station.
In early February this week, Chadian army spokespeople said that they had captivated 13 Boko Haram fighters, shortly after which two female suicide bombers attacked Diffa, a town in Niger, close to Nigeria’s border.
“They came on board three pirogues and succeeded in killing about 10 people before being pushed back by the army,” a Ngouboua local told the Guardian.
Boko Haram, ‘Group of the People of Sunnah for Preaching and Jihad’ or ‘People Committed to the Prophet’s Teachings for Propagation and Jihad’ is an anti-Western education jihadi group, thought to be of 7,000-10,000 men strong.
The group is part of the Salafi movement, an extremely conservative Aram Muslim movement, which focuses on Islamic education.
The group, part of the Salafi movement, was founded in Maiduguri in 2002 and has increased heavily in its extremism. In 2010, the sect filled international newspapers when it attacked Bauchi, a Northern Nigerian prison, and 700 inmates escaped.
Nowadays, however, they are most known for the kidnapping of 276 girls who attended Chibok, a government school situated in the Borno State, which borders with Lake Chad in 2014.
Around half of Nigeria’s population is Muslim and the other half of Nigerians identify as Christian but Boko Haram has a Nigerian Caliphate as their main goal and now wants to expand to set up an emirate around Lake Chad. Sunni Islamists have killed thousands of Nigerians and has formed an increasing threat in the country since 2009.
Many of the attacks in countries close to Northern Nigeria are in response to the new alliance formed between Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Benin and Cameroon to attack Boko Haram.
This alliance, with a backup from many African countries, will have their work cut out for them when it comes to the Nigerian Islamist group, who is also thought to have close connections with the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, despite minor differences in ideologies.
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