Nigerian child suicide bombings increase

LAGOS. — The number of Nigerian children involved in suicide bomb attacks by the Boko Haram sect has increased more than tenfold over the past year.

This is according to data released by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which indicates the number of minors, mostly girls, has increased from four in 2014 to 44 in 2015.

More than 75 per cent of the children involved in the attacks are Nigerian girls.

The attacks have been carried out in Nigeria, the book Haram base, and neighbouring countries comprising Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

UNICEF yesterday released the statistics ahead of the commemorations of two years since the Boko Haram sect abducted more than 200 schoolgirls at a school in Chibok in the north-eastern state of Borno. It is feared some of these girls might have been used in the recent wave of suicide bombings.

“Let us be clear: these children are victims, not perpetrators,” said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

He slammed the Islamic militant Boko Haram sect for the trend.

“Deceiving children and forcing them to carry out deadly acts has been one of the most horrific aspects of the vio- lence in Nigeria and in neighbouring countries.”

UNICEF said between January 2014 and February 2016, Cameroon recorded the highest number of suicide attacks involving children (21), followed by Nigeria (17) and Chad (2).

The UN agency said over the past two years, nearly 1 in 5 suicide bombers was a child and three quarters of these children were girls.

Meanwhile, a joint clearance operation by Cameroonian and Nigerian forces along the border of the two countries has rescued more than 1 200 people held hostage by Boko Haram militants. — CAJ News.