Boko Haram Members Get Death Sentences in Chad

Ten members of Boko Haram have been sentenced to death in Chad for crimes including murder and the use of explosives, Chad's prosecutor said.

"The accused have recognized their guilt and accepted the sentence,'' Bruno Mahouli Louapambe said in a statement Friday, adding that the suspects would be shot.

The suspects included Bahna Fanaye, alias Mahamat Moustapha, who Chadian officials have described as a leader of the Nigeria-based group.

Chad has vowed to take a leading role in a regional force to fight Boko Haram that is also expected to include soldiers from Cameroon, Benin and Niger in addition to Nigeria. Boko Haram has targeted Nigeria's neighbors in regular attacks this year.

In June and July Chad's capital, N'Djamena, was rocked by a series of suicide attacks that killed dozens of people — the first such attacks since Boko Haram threatened the country earlier this year.

In one attack, suicide bombers on motorcycles attacked two buildings in the capital. In another, a man disguised as a woman wearing a burqa detonated a bomb outside the city's main market.