Boko Haram steps up attacks using children as ‘human bombs’
Abuja — Just 10 months after Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari declared a victory over Boko Haram, the Islamist militant group is stepping up attacks in the far north-east of the country. Boko Haram militants deployed at least 80 children as "human bombs" this year, Mark Lowcock, the UN under secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said on Tuesday in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri, the group’s birthplace. The most spectacular attack occurred in July when the Islamist fighters targeted a state oil company research team, killing 48 people and seizing several hostages. "This is a kind of pattern that’s unlikely to change very much for months to come," Malte Liewerscheidt, Nigeria analyst at London-based risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, said by phone. "It’s a constant thorn in Buhari’s flesh in the sense that one of his key promises when he was campaigning was that he’d deal with this problem." The Nigerian government estimates that more than 20,000 people have died since ...
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