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Boko Haram and their ongoing reign of terror across West Africa and beyond has been a thorn in the side against opponents of the group on the continent. In a new report from The United Nations Children’s Fund, better known as UNICEF, the terrorist organization has been employing children to carry out deadly bomb attacks.

In a report from the New York Times that examined UNICEF’s report, it was found that one out of five suicide bombers from Boko Haram was a child and typically a girl. In 2015, the group used 44 children in bombing attacks compared with just four in 2014. The youngest bomber according to the report was eight years of age.

More from UNICEF’s press release regarding the report:

The number of children involved in ‘suicide’ attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger has risen sharply over the past year, from 4 in 2014 to 44 in 2015, according to a UNICEF report released today. More than 75 per cent of the children involved in the attacks are girls.

“Let us be clear: these children are victims, not perpetrators,” said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa. “Deceiving children and forcing them to carry out deadly acts has been one of the most horrific aspects of the violence in Nigeria and in neighbouring countries.”

Released two years after the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, the report, Beyond Chibok, shows alarming trends in four countries affected by Boko Haram over the past two years[.]

To read the UNICEF report, Beyond Chibok, follow this link.

Photo: By VOA – VOA, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36618253