The 13-year-old female suicide bomber, who was arrested by police in Kano, has revealed that she was handed over to the terrorists who recruited her by her parents.
The girl
who was identified as Zaharau Babangida was found wearing a suicide vest
outside a hospital in Kano on December 11 after 2 female suicide bombers
detonated explosives at the Kantin Kwari textile market in
the state.
Zaharau
told journalists when paraded at state police command jointly with Department
of State Security Service on Wednesday that her father took her and her mother
to an unknown forest where they met other terrorists in what was like their
camp.
She said
one alleged militant leader asked her whether she knew what a suicide bombing
was.
“They said, ‘Can you do it?’ I said no.
“They said, ‘You will go to heaven if you do it.’ I said ‘No I can’t.’ They said they would shoot me or throw me into a dungeon,” Zahra’u told journalists.
Zaharau also confessed that her father together with the people they met at the forest preached to her to be a suicide bomber so as to enter heaven on the Day of Judgement.
“They said, ‘Can you do it?’ I said no.
“They said, ‘You will go to heaven if you do it.’ I said ‘No I can’t.’ They said they would shoot me or throw me into a dungeon,” Zahra’u told journalists.
Zaharau also confessed that her father together with the people they met at the forest preached to her to be a suicide bomber so as to enter heaven on the Day of Judgement.
"My
father said I should first go to heaven and he would join me later. I was so
disturbed and decided to do what they asked me to do. It even went to the
extent that they told us that if we refuse to take part in that operation they
would kill us or they would bury us alive”.
There was
no way to independently verify her story and she had no lawyer present. No
information was available concerning the whereabouts of her parents.
Police said they had instructed the girl to tell her story to boost public awareness about those responsible for the December 11 attack.
Faced with the threat of death, Zahra’u said she finally agreed to take part in the attack but “never had any intention of doing it.”
Several days later, Zahra’u said, she and three other girls, all wearing explosives, were brought to the Kantin Kwari market by unidentified men.
Zahra’u said she was injured when one of the girls detonated her bomb and then she fled the scene, ending up at a hospital on the outskirts of Kano where she was discovered to be carrying explosives.
In his briefing also, the state Police Commissioner, Mr Aderenle Shinaba, said the police had also apprehended one of the people who brought the girl to Kano from Bauchi, pointing out that the vehicle in which they brought the girl was now with the security agents.
Police said they had instructed the girl to tell her story to boost public awareness about those responsible for the December 11 attack.
Faced with the threat of death, Zahra’u said she finally agreed to take part in the attack but “never had any intention of doing it.”
Several days later, Zahra’u said, she and three other girls, all wearing explosives, were brought to the Kantin Kwari market by unidentified men.
Zahra’u said she was injured when one of the girls detonated her bomb and then she fled the scene, ending up at a hospital on the outskirts of Kano where she was discovered to be carrying explosives.
In his briefing also, the state Police Commissioner, Mr Aderenle Shinaba, said the police had also apprehended one of the people who brought the girl to Kano from Bauchi, pointing out that the vehicle in which they brought the girl was now with the security agents.
According
to him, the girl was arrested at one of the hospitals in Kano where she went to
seek for medical treatment following the injuries she sustained after the
market blast.
The
commissioner also displayed some of the items recovered from the bomber,
including seven explosives and power source.
Boko
Haram has increasingly used female suicide bombers, including teenagers, as
part of their five-year insurgency.
Kano, the
largest city in the mainly Muslim north, saw four such attacks in one week in
July, while similar bombings have hit the states of Bauchi and Niger.
Experts say the group has used girls as bombers to demonstrate the range of tactics they have available to sow fear across Nigeria.
If confirmed, Zahra’u’s story would be the first known case of parents volunteering their daughter to take part in a deadly attack.
Violence in northern Nigeria has intensified in recent months, raising security fears ahead of February 14 elections.
Experts say the group has used girls as bombers to demonstrate the range of tactics they have available to sow fear across Nigeria.
If confirmed, Zahra’u’s story would be the first known case of parents volunteering their daughter to take part in a deadly attack.
Violence in northern Nigeria has intensified in recent months, raising security fears ahead of February 14 elections.
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