A man dressed in a woman's burqa blew himself up in the main market in Chad's capital N'Djamena early on Saturday, killing 14 people and injuring 74, a police spokesman said.
No
group immediately claimed responsibility but Chad blames Boko Haram,
the Islamist militant group based in neighbouring Nigeria, for a series
of bombings and shootings in the central African country in recent
weeks.
"Our current count is 15 dead," police spokesman Paul Manga, said, a total which included the suicide bomber.
A
Reuters witness saw at least ten bodies lying near the entrance to the
market where aid workers helped injured people into ambulances. Security
forces stopped people entering the area and searched stalls for more
explosives.
Several witnesses said that the bomber had tried to
enter the market wearing a woman's burqa. Chad authorities banned the
head-to-toe religious garment last month, citing the risk that attackers
could use it as a disguise or hide explosives underneath.
"The
suicide bomber was a man disguised as a woman (in a burqa). He tried to
enter the market when he was intercepted by police," Manga said. "That
is when he detonated the bomb."
Residents said the explosion happened at around 0830 local time (0730 GMT), during a busy period before the midday heat.
"It is terrible to live through such things during the holy month of Ramadan and right next to the main mosque of N'Djamena," Abubakar, a resident who had come to the market after hearing the explosion, said.
Chad
has been at the forefront of a regional military campaign against Boko
Haram, which is seeking to carve out an Islamist state in northeast
Nigeria and has mounted raids in neighbouring Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
In
June, two suicide attacks on police sites in N'Djamena killed at least
34 people. Since then, authorities in the central African country have
made at least 60 arrests and raided an arms cache in an effort to
dismantle the militants' networks.
Chad's oil
revenues have helped to finance its defence spending and N'Djamena
serves as a headquarters for an anti-Boko Haram regional force. The
country also serves as a base for a 3,000-strong French mission, named
Barkhane after a type of sand dune, which is fighting militancy in the
Sahel.
