Boko Haram now Uses Female Suicide Bombers Carrying Babies, DHQ warns

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) yesterday said it had uncovered new tactics by the Boko Haram sects, as female suicide bombers now carry babies on their back to evade detention.

This is as the Vice Chancellor of University of Maiduguri, Professor Abubakar Njodi on Friday raised the alarm that Boko Haram had added to the educational disadvantage of the North which would take between 500 and 1000 years to enable the region compete educationally with the South.

Also, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has said restoring normalcy to the lives of Internally Displaced Persons in the Northeast remained a firm commitment of the Federal Government.

Director of Defence Information, Brig Gen Rabe Abubakar said Fridaythat the menace of using babies to evade arrest and detection posed a great threat to identifying many of the suicide bombers in the North East where the military has continued to confront the insurgents.

Abubakar said: “Attention of the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has been drawn to a new tactic being adopted by female suicide bombers in the North East. 

“Female suicide bombers are now evading detection from security operatives by carrying babies on their back that ordinarily pass them for innocent nursing mothers.”

He explained that “the two recent suicide bomb attacks in Madagali, Adamawa State were instructive in this regard.

“The DHQ wishes to seize this opportunity to appeal to members of the public to be patient and cooperate with the military and other security agencies while carrying out thorough security search and checks as the essence is to nip in the bud the murderous intention of the Boko Haram suicide bombers. 

“The DHQ wishes to state further that the usual traffic ‘go-slow’ at military and security check points as a result of rigorous security checks are not meant to cause public discomfort or a deliberate action to induce traffic disruptions on our roads.”

Abubakar added that “Members of the public are therefore urged to always volunteer useful information to the military and other security agencies that would assist in exposing Boko Haram and their evil machinations in our society and to make our communities,” the Director of Information stated.

Njodi made this prediction while playing host to the Presidential Committee on North East Initiative (PCNI) led by its Vice Chairman, Alhaji Tijjani Tumsa that paid a visit to the institution to commiserate with him over the recent Boko Haram attack which killed five persons including a professor of veterinary medicine.