Suicide Bomber Ran Away From Killing Innocent People In Maiduguri

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — A teenage girl
strapped with explosives ran away from a
crowded mosque this week, killing only
herself and cementing suspicions that Boko
Haram is using unwilling captives in its
terror campaign in northeast Nigeria.
The girl took off after her companion blew
up in an explosion that killed 30 people on
Monday in Maiduguri, the biggest city in
northeast Nigeria, witnesses and a
mortuary worker said.
"In the confusion of the blast, the other girl
just ran away and only exploded when she
was far from the crowd," said fishmonger
Idi Idrisa.
It was unclear if the teenager fled in fright,
fear or on purpose, but this and other
bungled bombings have many believing
that Nigeria's home-grown Boko Haram
Islamic extremist group is using some of its
thousands of kidnap victims as unwilling
weapons.
A military bomb disposal expert has told
The Associated Press that most bombs
carried by girls and women have remote
detonation devices, meaning the carrier
cannot control the explosion.
The U.N. children's agency last month
reported an "alarming spike" in suicide
bombings by girls and women, saying the
number of reported suicide attacks had
jumped to 27 in the first five months of this
year compared to 26 for all of last year.
View galleryFILE - In this Monday June, 22,
2015 file photo, People …
FILE - In this Monday June, 22, 2015 file
photo, People gather at the site of a suicide
bomb attack …
On Monday, a girl who looked no more
than 12 years old detonated explosives that
killed 10 people and injured 30 in a crowded
market at Wagir village in northeastern
Yobe state, according to truck driver Malam
Usaini Jibril.
This past week, at least 85 people have
been reported killed in suicide bombings
and village attacks blamed on Boko Haram.
Hundreds of homes have been burned.
Victims include five villagers killed in a
cross-border raid in the Diffa region of
neighboring Niger.
Niger's army responded with an attack that
killed 16 suspected Boko Haram militants
and captured 32, according to a
government statement.
"The war against Boko Haram is a non-
negotiable political goal," Niger's
government said in a statement read on
state television Thursday night. "The fight
against Boko Haram will give us our
collective freedom."
The United States has condemned the
attacks and promised support for a
multinational army that this year has driven
Boko Haram from a large swath of
northeast Nigeria where it had set up a so-
called Islamic caliphate under its harsh
version of Shariah law.
But the multinational fight has been bogged
down with Chad claiming it has had to
retake some towns two and three times
because Nigerian troops have not arrived to
secure them.
Underscoring those failures, the U.S.
Embassy this week said "We encourage the
government of Nigeria to take steps to
secure and govern liberated areas by filling
in behind military successes with police and
civilian administration."
Boko Haram says Western-style
democracy has brought only corruption
and inequality to oil-rich but impoverished
Nigeria and that only Islamic rule offers a
just solution in the country of about 170
million people almost equally divided
between Christians and Muslims.