The majority of suicide bombers in a terrorist group “West African province of the Islamic state” (formerly called “Boko Haram”) are women and children. These findings are contained in the study conducted by experts from Yale University and the Center for combating terrorism at West point (U.S. Military Academy). Briefly on Thursday, August 10, CNN reports.
The experts found that since 2011, the leadership group used the 434 bomber for the implementation of the 238 attacks. It was found that women were 244 out of 338 attackers, whose gender was impossible to determine. In addition, 81 the suicide bomber was identified as a child or teenager.
It is noted that the increase in the number of women in the ranks of suicide bombers began to occur after 2014, when the militants kidnapped 276 students of the boarding school in the town of Chibok. “Boko Haram began using women as suicide bombers after realised the potential gender and age” — the researchers believe.
According to them, the militants managed to break the demographic stereotypes of what it looks like suicide. “This is the first in the history of the terrorist group, which uses to attack more women than men, and is at the forefront of the use of children as suicide bombers,” said the researchers, adding that the youngest terrorist, a known, was only seven years old.
In April 2014, terrorists kidnapped 276 girls from a boarding school in the town of Chibok, 57 of them later managed to escape. Information about the fate of the others differ, in may 2017, it was reported that the militants have released another 82 school girls (according to other data released was from 50 to 62).
Boko Haram (means “Western education is a sin”) was established in 2002 and operates mainly in the territory of Nigeria. Supporters group in favor of the introduction in the country of Sharia law and the fight against Western influence. In the spring of 2015 the leader of the militants, Abubakar Shekau has sworn allegiance to the “Islamic state” (banned in Russia), after which the name of the group was changed to the “West African province of the Islamic state.”