LONDON - Senegal's sovereign dollar-denominated bonds fell on Wednesday, after BP delayed the start of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project and two people burned to death in an attack on a bus following the dissolution of a leading opposition party.

The country's notes maturing in 2048 were down 2.371 cents to 71.46 cents on the dollar at 1000 GMT, according to Tradeweb data, a steeper drop than other frontier market sovereign bonds.

BP said on Tuesday that it expected a delay in the start of the Greater Tortue Ahemyim LNG project on the Senegal-Mauritania border, from the last quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024.

Senegal's government is banking on oil and gas to fuel its economy.

GDP growth would more than double to 8.3% this year, from 4% in 2022, if hydrocarbon production started, the International Monetary Fund said in March. However, if production was delayed, growth would only be 5-5.3% this year, the fund said.

In July, Australia's Woodside Energy Group Ltd said it expected the first barrel of oil from the Senegal Sangomar project to flow by mid-2024, compared with an initial target of late 2023.

Also, two people were burned to death and five seriously injured in Dakar when attackers threw molotov cocktails at a passenger bus on Tuesday, an incident the interior ministry said was a "terrorist attack".

The attack came a day after a judge dissolved the party of arrested opposition politician Ousmane Sonko, who was remanded in custody on Saturday after being charged with plotting an insurrection, among other offences.

Senegal has been rocked by months of unrest ahead of presidential elections next year.

(Reporting by Rachel Savage; Editing by Jorgelina do Rosario and Alex Richardson)