ICC Note: Boko Haram has reportedly used kidnapped children as human shields in Cameroon. Like the girls that have been reportedly used as suicide bombers in Nigeria, Boko Haram continues to resort to atrocious tactics in response to losing ground in certain areas of Nigeria. The victims of these kidnappings are very often Christians who Boko Haram opposes, due to their goal of establishing an Islamic State in Nigeria.
By Stoyan Zaimov
6/5/15, Nigeria (CP) – Nigerian terror group Boko Haram has reportedly kidnapped more than 1,000 children and used some of them in neighboring Cameroon as human shields, prompting a U.N. official to condemn its actions as “inhuman.”
“The system they use is just inhuman,” Najat Rochdi, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Cameroon, told AFP.
While the Islamic militants have killed more than 15,000 people in continuous attacks throughout Nigeria since 2009, they have also sought to expand their operations in other countries in the region, in a mission to establish an African Caliphate.
Boko Haram has been following in the footsteps of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, though the Nigerian army has said it has managed to drive them out of several hideouts in the past few months.
Boko Haram has also suffered heavy losses when engaging with Cameroon’s army, but has still successfully carried out a number of hit-and-run cross-border attacks, where the jihadist raid villages to steal supplies, kill people, and kidnap children.
Reports have since come out showing that Boko Haram has used some of these children as human shields, putting them on the frontline of such attacks.
“To my knowledge, the children were used as human shields … [and] were aged between eight and 12,” Rochdi said.
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