Teenage girl given to Boko Haram extremists reveals she refused to explode a suicide bomb

A 13-YEAR-OLD girl says her father gave her to Boko Haram extremists and that she was arrested after refusing to explode a suicide bomb at a market in Kano, Nigeria’s second largest city in the north.

Nigeria has suffered numerous suicide bombings in recent months carried out by girls and young women. That has raised fears that the insurgents are using kidnapped girls.

She says she told her captors she did not want to be a suicide bomber but allowed them to strap her into a vest primed with explosives because they threatened to bury her alive.

The girl, known only as Zaharau, told a news conference on Wednesday night that she saw many people being buried alive at the Boko Haram camp where her father took her in Bauchi state, east of Kano.

She said her captors asked if she wanted to go to paradise and, when she said yes, explained she would have to be a suicide bomber.

“When I was told I would have to die to enter paradise, that I would have to explode a bomb and die, I said I cannot do it,” she said.When they threatened to kill her, she allowed them to strap her into a vest primed with explosives, saying “I was afraid to be buried alive.”

She says she was taken to Kano’s textile market where two other girls detonated their bombs. Police said four people were killed and seven people — including Zaharau — injured in the December 10 attack.Police Superintendent Adenrele Shinaba said the girl was arrested in the hospital with a leg wound. A taxi driver took her to the hospital, and she said she left her suicide vest on the seat. The driver alerted police.

Shinaba said she will remain in custody while investigations continue. He said they had been unable to find her father, who the girl said belongs to Boko Haram.

Culled from News.com au