Boko Haram reportedly forcing girls to be suicide bombers

World Today

Boko Haram insurgents are reportedly using young girls as suicide bombers to wreak havoc on crowded areas. Last week alone, three teenage girls killed more than two dozen people in explosions. CCTV’s Sophia Adengo reported the story from Abuja, Nigeria.

Twenty people died in a grisly scene inside the Borno state capital of Maidugri in Nigeria last Saturday when a female suicide bomber not more than 10-years-old detonated a bomb strapped to herself. Just one day later, two female suicide bombers hit a market in the town of Potiskum in Nigeria’s north-eastern state of Yobe, killing seven and injuring 48, according to Nigeria’s Premium Times.

Boko Haram insurgents are purportedly putting explosives on the girls and having them detonate the bombs in crowded places. The chilling spectacle has left the world in disbelief of how a child could become a deadly suicide bomber.

Zaharau Babangida, a 13-year-old who was arrested last December for refusing to detonate a bomb strapped to her by Boko Haram insurgents, said that she was forced into doing the bidding of Boko Haram.

“My father took us to a boat which was surrounded by gunmen, I was asked if wanted to go to heaven. When I answered they said I should go for a suicide mission,” Babangida said. “They said if I run, they would kill me, so we were sent to Kano. When we arrived at Kano market, one of them said we should go separately so I refused. After my friend detonated her own explosive vest, I was wounded.”

Two other girls she was with detonated their explosives in a textile market in Kano city, killing six people.

Last month, a local newspaper quoting an arrested suicide bomber said insurgents had sent 50 female suicide bombers to kill at least 100,000 Nigerians.

Boko Haram is known to subject abductees to extreme conditions that put severe pressure on captives.