Boko Haram Continues Use Women and Children as Human Bombs as Nigerian President Seeks Aid

On July 17, two suicide bombers killed nine and injured fifteen in Damaturu, Nigeria at the Muslim festival for Eid, the holiday that marks the end of Ramadan. One bomber was a ten-year-old girl and the other was an elderly woman. The bombs were detonated next to locations where volunteers were checking attendees for explosive devices. Although no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, Boko Haram is suspected to be behind the attack.

On Thursday, there were two explosions in a market in Gombe, Nigeria that killed at least 49 people, in a market filled with people preparing for the Eid al-Fitr festival that commemorates the end of Ramadan. This year’s Ramadan has been particularly violent since Islamic State encouraged its affiliates, including Boko Haram to escalate attacks during this month.

Boko Haram’s increased manipulation of women and children to carry out lethal attacks is directly correlated with the kidnappings of an estimated 2,000 women and girls since the beginning of 2014. According to witnesses and victims, Boko Haram takes abducted children and women directly to training camps and immediately begins to indoctrinate abductees with the group’s Islamist views. A young woman named Aisha, who was kidnapped by Boko Haram in September 2014, explained during her captivity she was trained to shoot guns, how to use bombs and to attack villages.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to visit Washington, DC next week. On Buhari’s itinerary is to discuss, “strengthen[ing] and intensify[ing] bilateral and international cooperation against terrorism in Nigeria and West-Africa,” particularly the fight against Boko Haram. Relations between the United States and Nigeria have been flawed in the past, as the U.S. State Department repeatedly accused the Goodluck Jonathan administration of incompetence and corruption. During his campaign, Buhari ran on the platform of anti-corruption,  however Buhari has first hand knowledge of how truly corrupt Nigerian politics can be.

In the 1990’s Buhari served as the head of the Petroleum Trust Fund under Sani Abacha, who is accused of stealing billions of dollars from Nigeria during his reign of power. As head of the PTF, Buhari lead an organization that acted without government oversight and committed massive fraud. Former associates, including Gilbert Chagoury, Abacha’s corrupt business partner, funded Buhari’s “anti-corruption” campaign.

The Obama Administration’s embrace of Buhari as he undertakes to defeat Boko Haram is hypocritical in its timing, but nonetheless necessary. As previously explained by the Center for Security Policy, Boko Haram, which originated in Nigeria, deeply rooted itself there during a period when the U.S. was hesitating in assisting the Jonathan administration. But Boko Haram cannot be countered elsewhere unless their main operations in Nigeria are cut off.