At least 75 per cent of the suicide attacks in Nigeria this year were carried out by women or children, the United Nations Children’s Agency (UNICEF) said yesterday.
Twenty seven attacks took place in the first five months of this year, according to the UN agency.
Nine suicide attacks since July 2014, have been conducted by children between the ages of seven and 17, it added.
Last week, a 10-year-old girl carried out a suicide attack in Damaturu, Yobe State. No fewer than seven people were killed and more than 30 injured in the bombing.
“Children are not instigating these suicide attacks; they are used intentionally by adults in the most horrific way,” UNICEF Representative in Nigeria Jean Gough said.
Most of the suicide attacks are affiliated with the Boko Haram which has been active in Nigeria since 2009.