ICC Note: Boko Haram continues to use young girls as suicide bombers, a terrifying reality that plays part in persecution in the country where more Christians have died for their faith in the past five years than anywhere else on earth. During last week’s attack on Dikwa displacement camp near Maiduguri, which killed 58 people and injures scores, one of the three female bombers ditched the mission. She reported that she saw some of her family members in the queue for food and she wanted them to remain safe. Her actions bring to light more sight into Boko Haram’s insidious strategy and question as to whether these girls can be rescued from a brainwashing torture that convinces them to give up their lives for the cause of their captors.
By Dionne Searcey
2/16/16 Nigeria (NYT) — Of all the mysteries surrounding Boko Haram, the marauding militant jihadist group that has terrorized Nigeria and its neighbors, the use of women and girls as suicide bombers is among the most vexing.
That was demonstrated this week when Boko Haram sent three girls to a government-run camp in northern Nigeria that was supposed to be a haven for people who had been chased from their homes under threat or attack by the group.
Those three at the camp in Dikwa are among an increasing deployment of women and girls who have served as suicide bombers in recent Boko Haram attacks. The United Nations estimates that since June 2014, Boko Haram has deployed 100 abducted women and girls for attacks once carried out by men. The group has also used boys as young as 8 for suicide missions.
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