Boko Haram’s Young Suicide Bombers Unaware They Have Bombs

A fresh report by the United Nations has it that many of the youngsters used by Boko Haram for suicide bombing are probably unaware that they are going to be blown up.

According to Vanguard, Leila Zerrougui, the UN secretary-general’s special representative on children and armed conflict made this suggestion on Tuesday, December 15, where she suggested that the children who were mostly used this way, were in many cases, not aware of what they were about to do.

She said: “Many of them don’t know that they will be blown up with remote devices,” she told reporters, pointing out many of the girls are as young as 11 or 12.

“I personally doubt that the children know.

“That means that it is not the person herself who did it.”

While lamenting the fact that using children as human bombs is one of the worst manifestations of an increasingly blatant disregard for the safety and security of minors in conflict situations around the world, Zerrougui also expressed her frustration over the use of children as young as four or five as human shields on battlefields by armed groups like the Islamic State or the anti-Balaka in the Central African Republic.

She said: “This is the worst form where children are really put in danger and their bodies are really used as a weapon.

“I can say that 2015 was really a difficult year for children all over the world where conflicts are ongoing.

“We have thousands of children killed, maimed, schools attacked and children by the thousands recruited in many places.

“Children are not only affected, they are specifically targeted.”