The Chadian government on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in the Lake Chad region after a series of raids and suicide bombings by Boko Haram insurgents in the area.

Chad’s Communications Minister, Hassan Sylla Bakari, said that the emergency rule, effective immediately, would grant authorities new powers to search and monitor residents in the region.

This follows the Senegalese government’s announcement that it had arrested five people suspected of links to the terror group.

However, a senior official of the Chadian Justice Ministry has disclosed that the five were arrested in October in the suburbs of Senegal’s capital, Dakar, and the central town of Kaolak, more than 2,500 km to Nigeria.

The authorities have charged them with alleged relations with a terrorism organisation, financing of terrorism and money laundering.