Suicide bombings in western Chad kill more than 30 people

BAGA SOLA , Chad, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Terrorist group Boko Haram is suspected of carrying out a series of suicide bombings Sunday that killed at least 37 people in Baga Sola, Chad.

The BBC reported more than 50 people were injured in the attacks and were being treated at local hospitals. Baga Sola lies on the edge of Lake Chad and is home to tens of thousands of Nigerian refugees who fled Boko Haram and took up residence in a camp on the town's outskirts.

Reports suggest the death toll includes five suicide bombers.

Last week, a firefight near Lake Chad ended after 11 Chadian soldiers and 17 Boko Haram militants were killed.

Chad, along with Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and Benin, is a member of a multinational joint task force organized earlier this year by the African Union to fight Boko Haram.

Since 2009, the Nigeria-based terrorist group has killed at least 17,000 people during its bid to form an Islamic government in the region. While the group has lost most of its major strongholds, it continues to organize attacks, mainly suicide bombings in crowded markets, a majority of which occur in northeastern Nigeria. Several have been reported in northern Cameroon, southern Niger and southwestern Chad.

The attacks in Baga Sola come one week after Nigeria's military reiterated vows made by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to defeat Boko Haram by December.

The promise was made the same day a series of blasts killed at least 18 people on the outskirts of the Nigerian capital.