Baga Sola bombings

On the afternoon of Saturday, 10 October 2015, a series of suicide bombings struck Baga Sola, a small fishing community on Lake Chad. The attack was allegedly carried out by the Nigeria-based Islamic extremist group Boko Haram and is reported to have killed around 36 people and wounded upwards of 50 more. It has been described as the deadliest attack to occur in the Lake Chad region. According to reporting, the bombers were two women, two children, and a man, and the intended targets were a busy marketplace and a nearby refugee camp sheltering tens of thousands of Nigerians.

Boko Haram is described as a Salafist jihadi organization originating in Nigeria whose stated goal is to overthrow the Nigerian government and establish a theocracy under strict Islamic law. The group has engaged in a range of terrorist activities, including suicide bombings and mass killings, and is widely known for kidnapping women and girls, most notably in the Chibok kidnappings. It has been designated an international terrorist organization by the United States. In 2015, Boko Haram declared allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, and was accepted into the wider caliphate by decree of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Reporting indicates that Boko Haram has increasingly used women and children as suicide bombers in recent years, often coercing kidnapped individuals into carrying out attacks through indoctrination or threats, and in some cases drugging them beforehand. A study by Yale University and West Point cited in reporting found that most of the group's suicide attacks were carried out by women, with the youngest bomber identified as seven years old. Women and children have reportedly been used more frequently in part because they are perceived as less valuable, freeing more men to serve as fighters. Individuals recovered from Boko Haram are often required to undergo rehabilitation, as many retain sympathies toward the group.

The Baga Sola attack unfolded in two phases. In the first, a group of suicide bombers detonated explosives in a fish marketplace during the busiest time of day, killing 16 people; witnesses reported hearing three explosions. It is not established whether the bombers involved in this attack were coerced. In the second phase, another group of bombers struck a settlement housing thousands of Nigerian and Chadian refugees, with at least two blasts killing 22 people. UNICEF reported that 53 people were injured across the attacks.

In the aftermath, the UN Refugee Agency condemned the attacks, and the UN Security Council characterized them as "horrific" and "heinous." The head of the African Union, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, condemned the "barbaric attacks" and offered condolences to victims. The attack is described as the worst to occur in the Lake Chad region to date. No individuals have been publicly named or charged in connection with the bombings in the available reporting.