Two young girls, estimated by witnesses to be between seven and eight years old, arrived in a rickshaw. A local militia member, Abdulkarim Jabo, attempted to speak with one of them, but she did not respond. One of the girls then walked toward the poultry sellers and detonated her explosives belt. A second explosion occurred shortly afterward as onlookers rushed to help the victims of the first blast. Among those injured were soldiers guarding a nearby electric power installation. The attack showed all the signs of being orchestrated by Boko Haram, which has frequently used women and young girls to carry out suicide attacks.

Perpetrators

Boko Haram

Response

Police Commissioner Damian Chukwu confirmed the attack but identified the bombers as teenage girls, highlighting discrepancies in age reporting

Displacement

0

Socioeconomic drivers

Children, especially young girls, are less likely to be frisked or suspected at security cordons.

Trajectory

With military forces reclaiming territory, Boko Haram increasingly focused on markets, IDP camps, and civilian gatherings where they could inflict maximum casualties with minimal risk

Cycle notes

Mirrored earlier child-led suicide operations in crowded civilian areas by Boko Haram, such as the 29 January 2016 Gombi market bombing and the 22 February 2015 Potiskum market attack, reflecting a recurring tactic of deploying minors to evade suspicion and strike soft targets; it also reinforces a sustained pattern from 2015–2016 of systematic child exploitation in suicide bombings, illustrating the group’s continued reliance on coerced or indoctrinated children to maintain attack frequency under military pressure.

Pattern

Female teenage suicide bomber deployment

Sources

• https://news.sky.com/story/children-suspected-of-double-suicide-attack-in-nigeria-10692918
• https://apnews.com/general-news-a495e2250c7549e0b2ef0dc9742702a4