Child bombers used by Boko Haram increase tenfold, UNICEF says

KANO, Nigeria — The number of child bombers used by the Islamic extremists of Boko Haram has increased from four to 44 in a year with devastating consequences in communities that now see children as threats, UNICEF said Tuesday.

“As ‘suicide’ attacks involving children become commonplace, some communities are starting to see children as threats,” said Manuel Fontaine, West Africa director of the U.N. children’s agency.

Boko Haram wants to create an Islamic caliphate in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer whose 170 million people are divided almost equally between Christians mainly in the south and Muslims in the north.