My Parents Took Me To Boko Haram, Says 14-year-old Kano Suicide Bomber

The girl, who was identified as Zahra’u
Babangida, was arrested in Kano on
December 10 following a double suicide
bombing in a market that killed 10
people.
She was presented to journalists by
police and instructed to recount how
Islamist militants allegedly forced
her to take part in the attack.
She said her mother and father, both
Boko Haram sympathisers, took her
to an insurgent hideout in a forest
near the town of Gidan Zana in Kano
state.
She said one alleged militant leader
asked her whether she knew what a
suicide bombing was.
“They said, ‘Can you do it?’ I said no.
“They said, ‘You will go to heaven if
you do it.’ I said ‘No I can’t.’ They
said they would shoot me or throw
me into a dungeon,” Zahra’u told
journalists.
There was no way to independently
verify her story and she had no
lawyer present. No information was
available concerning the
whereabouts of her parents.
Police said they had instructed the
girl to tell her story to boost public
awareness about those responsible
for the December 10 attack.
Faced with the threat of death,
Zahra’u said she finally agreed to
take part in the attack but “never
had any intention of doing it.”
Several days later, Zahra’u said, she
and three other girls, all wearing
explosives, were brought to the
Kantin Kwari market by unidentified
men.
Zahra’u said she was injured when
one of the girls detonated her bomb
and then she fled the scene, ending
up at a hospital on the outskirts of
Kano where she was discovered to
be carrying explosives.
Boko Haram has increasingly used
female suicide bombers, including
teenagers, as part of their five-year
insurgency.
Kano, the largest city in the mainly
Muslim north, saw four such attacks
in one week in July, while similar
bombings have hit the states of
Bauchi and Niger.
Experts say the group has used girls
as bombers to demonstrate the
range of tactics they have available
to sow fear across Nigeria.
If confirmed, Zahra’u’s story would
be the first known case of parents
volunteering their daughter to take
part in a deadly attack.
Violence in northern Nigeria has
intensified in recent months, raising
security fears ahead of February 14
elections.