Boko Haram Suicide Bombers Using Babies to Avoid Detection

Nigeria's militant Islamic group Boko Haram is using infants as a ploy in suicide bombings, a professor of criminal justice and national security writes in Forbes.

"While Boko Haram's ability to carry out conventional attacks against strategic targets has been limited, they have not ceased to target civilians using IED's, particularly increasing the use of women and child suicide bombers," writes Dr. Vesna Markovic, an assistant professor at the University of New Haven who has written about female suicide bombers.

Boko Haram has been limited because it cannot gain access to money and supplies. But attacks are still happening.

A woman suicide bomber with a baby strapped to her back walked into a busy Nigeria market in late January and detonated explosives, killing herself, the baby and six people. In November 2016, a female suicide bomber carrying a baby on her back was shot by soldiers at a checkpoint in Maiduguri. Her explosives detonated because of the shot, killing her and the baby.

Also in January of this year, four women were arrested by security forces. One was carrying a baby.

The use of infants or the strategy of situating explosives to look like an infant in suicide attacks dates back years. In 2014, also in Maiduguri, one of two teenaged female suicide bombers who detonated in a crowded market looked like she was carrying a baby on her back.

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