Boko Haram stepping up kidnap, use of women in attacks

Aya Ezz

International reports are coming out to throw light on the violations Boko Haram commits against Nigerian women.

Boko Haram kidnaps and rapes women and forces them to carry out suicide attacks, Amnesty International said.

It said the ISIS-leaning group uses security loopholes in Nigeria and the failure of the Nigerian government in rescuing these women.

Bring our daughters back

Boko Haram has kidnapped over 1,000 women, most of the between 16 and 18, since 2014, according to an investigative report by the BBC.

It said Boko Haram especially kidnaps girls from schools specialized in technology and engineering to use them in its attacks.

Growing kidnap operations have fuelled a public campaign. Called “Bring our Daughters Back”, the campaign seeks to put pressure on Nigerian authorities to take action to rescue the kidnapped girls from Boko Haram’s claws.

Boko Haram is putting women at the frontline of its operations. In June 2014, the movement used a woman in carrying out a suicide attack for the first time. The number of attacks launched by women is increasing in the northern part of Nigeria. Most of the attacks are targeting markets, schools and military camps.

An American research group said in August 2017 that Boko Haram heavily depends on women in carrying out its attacks.

In the last three years, the group said, the attacks launched by women were more than the ones launched by men.

Between April and June 2017, Boko Haram used women in staging attacks against 247 targets, the group said.

It added that the terrorist organization used 434 in hitting these targets.