DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Chad's government has announced a state of emergency in the Lake Chad region where Islamic extremists from neighboring Nigeria have launched several attacks in the past few months.

The government announced on national radio late Monday that movements of people and vehicles will be restricted so that authorities can search homes and collect weapons during the day and night to prevent attacks around the lake region.

Nigeria-based Boko Haram militants have been stepping up attacks in neighboring Chad, Niger and Cameroon after those countries agreed to help fight the extremists.

Over the weekend, two girls wearing suicide vests detonated explosives in Ngouboua village along Lake Chad killing two people, according to national radio. Five coordinated suicide bombings in October killed at least 36 people in Baga Sola near Lake Chad.