Washington, DC - The United States strongly condemns Boko Haram’s brutal attacks this past weekend in Baga Sola, Chad, and in Cameroon in villages near Fotokol, Mora, and Seradji-Kerawa, as well as attacks last week in Niger and Nigeria. We send our condolences to the families and loved ones of these latest victims of the group’s unabated and horrific campaign of indiscriminate murder and violence throughout the Lake Chad Basin region. Boko Haram’s use of children to conduct these brutal attacks is particularly heinous.
According to reports, on Saturday, October 10, more than 40 people died in coordinated suicide bombings targeting a market and a spontaneous camp for internally displaced persons in Baga Sola, Chad. Over the weekend in Cameroon, Boko Haram destroyed dozens of homes near Fotokol, and three separate suicide bombers near Mora and Seradji-Kerawa killed nine civilians and wounded one. An additional attack on Monday, October 12, killed one civilian and a suicide bomber, while a second attack, on a village near Mora, was repelled by Cameroonian security services.
The United States continues to support the governments and people of the Lake Chad Basin region in their ongoing struggle to degrade and defeat Boko Haram. We contribute to these efforts through a number of security and counterterrorism assistance programs, which provide intelligence, advisors, training, equipment, and logistics. We actively provide support on a bilateral basis and through the Multinational Joint Task Force, which the Lake Chad Basin countries and Benin are establishing to coordinate regional efforts to counter Boko Haram.