Aftermath of a bombing by Boko Haram, Feb 2016. Photo: Creative Commons

A 14-year-old girl arrested on suspicion of being on a suicide mission in northern Nigeria says she was chosen because she refused to marry Boko Haram fighters.

One of three suspects arrested at a military facility, the girl said that a week after she had refused her third proposal she was restrained and drugged, before being prepared for her mission with a man and another woman.

“We spent one and a half days on the road to Maiduguri. It was when we got to Maiduguri that they strapped the bombs on our bodies. At that moment, I knew that I was going to die, so I started crying,” she said.

“I was watching when the first bomber, a female, detonated her explosive close to a military checkpoint, which killed no one but herself. The second, a male, was killed by the military before he could detonate his. At that time, something told me to remove my own IED and surrender, which I did. I was surrounded by soldiers and policemen and I fainted.”

The woman is currently undergoing de-radicalisation at a military detention facility, according to Lucky Irabor, Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole (the Nigerian army’s effort to end the Boko Haram insurgency).

Source: Premium Times