Boko Haram has carried out numerous attacks across Nigeria and the wider Lake Chad region, leaving behind destruction, loss of life, and displacement. Among its most disturbing tactics is the recruitment of women and girls as suicide bombers, a grim reflection of the group’s gendered ideology. In just four years, these bombers killed over 1,200 people, and today, nearly two-thirds of Boko Haram’s suicide attackers are women.
A suspected suicide bomber has killed 12 people and injured several other people in a fish market in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state. Boko Haram is officially known as Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād. The outfit comes as Nigeria’s most prominent insurgent sect, fighting for Islamic rule in the country. Considering Nigeria’s pervasive views of women as disposable, Boko Haram disproportionately targets and uses women as tools for terrorist attacks. To further its terrorist goals, the group recruits and enlists women into a variety of insurgency roles by taking advantage of their social vulnerability.
Suicide bombings were introduced by Boko Haram as a new tactic to their deadly arsenal in 2011. By 2020, the group had carried out hundreds of suicide assaults across Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, and Chad, with the majority of attacks and fatalities occurring in northeastern Nigeria. Civilians, law enforcement, and political and religious organizations are the main targets of suicide bombings. A peak of 114 suicide attacks occurred in 2015, resulting in 1989 fatalities.
Suicide attacks did not occur in Nigeria or West Africa before 2011. Experts like Jacob Zenn find evidence that Boko Haram operatives received crucial expertise and training from AQIM and Al Shahab, as evidenced by the fact that the group did not initially go through a trial-and-error phase but instead adapted quickly in carrying out suicide attacks, as a result of appropriate training and education.
Also Read: The Doctrine of Self-Reliance: How Xi Jinping is Engineering a Techno-Nationalist China
For instance, according to many authors, AQIM and Al Shahab trained Mamman Nur, who was the architect of the 2011 attacks on the United Nations headquarters and the Nigerian Federal Police headquarters, the first two Boko Haram suicide bombings. Suicide bombings are a common and effective way of spreading terror among the targeted population. Historical examples also demonstrate that suicide bombings are a powerful tool for influencing government policies and decisions. These factors are among the main reasons why Boko Haram has adopted suicide bombings as its primary tactic in attacks. Suicide bombers are not only effective but also economical, making them a perfect weapon in asymmetric warfare.
Boko Haram has been responsible for numerous attacks in Nigeria and the broader Lake Chad region, causing untold destruction, loss of life, and displacement. The group has drawn global attention due to its extreme violence and high-profile abductions, such as the kidnapping of over 200 schoolgirls from Chibok in 2014.
Among the group’s most disturbing tactics is the recruitment of women and girls as suicide bombers, a strategy that reflects the group’s deep gendered ideology. Following the abduction of 276 Chibok schoolgirls in 2014, Boko Haram, a jihadi organization affiliated with the Islamic State, garnered international attention and sparked an international campaign to secure their return. After the kidnapping, Boko Haram launched a mass campaign employing female suicide bombers, including several girls they had coerced into joining them. At least one-third of the more than 450 women and girls who participated in suicide attacks between 2014 and 2018 were minors or teenagers.
Since these female suicide bombers killed over 1,200 people in just four years, they have become so prevalent that about two-thirds of the group’s suicide attackers are now female. Part of the reason for their success is the lack of female security personnel among Nigeria’s security officials to search for women in the terrorist outfit.
The need for Female Suicide Bombers
It can be strategically advantageous to utilize female suicide bombers because women are less likely to raise suspicions among the wider audience. Other than this, they are often perceived as non-combatants, security forces. Additionally, women can even pretend to be pregnant or hide explosives in their clothing. Concerning this, researchers like Dr.Mia Bloom claim that “the most likely tactical adaptation for a terrorist under scrutiny is the use of the least likely suspect.” It can also be used to strengthen their organization and expand its workforce by recruiting women.
Strategically, suicide attacks by women typically have a “greater psychological impact on the target audience,” which can lead to increased media coverage and attention. The psychological effect on the populace is the primary outcome. This kind of attack depends on the element of surprise and, because of the death and destruction, can spread panic throughout towns, cities, villages, and nations. Symbolically and physically, suicide bombing encodes the authority to determine whether or not a woman’s body becomes an instrument of death, which is why Boko Haram recruits girls and women as bombers.
Such actions ridicule the government by demonstrating Boko Haram’s ongoing ability to outperform the security forces in committing acts of violence and repression while evading capture. The use of girls and women in suicide bombings by Boko Haram is just another egregious demonstration of the insurgents’ continued ability to disrupt daily life, even in the presence of men who are father figures in women’s families, leaders in their communities, and society at large. From a logical standpoint, using female suicide bombers is a sensible and financially viable strategy. Anne Speckhard, a terrorism expert, claims that, in addition to being more likely to evade discovery, women are also more expendable from the group’s perspective since they are less likely to hold key leadership positions in insurgencies. Women are also considered “cheap” recruits, as they are used to preserve male combatants.
There are numerous reasons for women to join such outfits. For instance, the intricacy of women’s roles in terrorist organizations is demonstrated by initiatives to deradicalize and rehabilitate female Boko Haram combatants. Initially, kidnapped women may shift their roles within the group to improve their circumstances, form personal relationships, or become indoctrinated with a radical mindset. According to other women, they voluntarily joined the terrorist organization due to political or societal pressures or because Boko Haram provided them with economic opportunities that were unavailable in their conservative villages. Women returning from Boko Haram often endure poverty, sexual abuse, and shame in areas of Nigeria devastated by government and militia fighting. They also receive little socioeconomic support.
The rise in the number of women joining Boko Haram is an alarming situation that needs to be addressed as soon as possible through initiatives that can make them independent, such as financial assistance, so that there is no need for them to depend on terrorist outfits like Boko Haram. This can also improve the security situation in Nigeria, so the Nigerian government should be mindful of taking such proactive measures. In addition to the Nigerian Government, International organisations should provide humanitarian support to safeguard women in need and relocate victims of sexual abuse to safer areas.
References
- Boko Haram’s Demographic Profile In Suicide Bombing, JSTOR, August 2017.
- Boko Haram Operational Profile in suicide bombing, JSTOR,August 2017.
- Jordan Galehan, Instruments of violence: Female suicide bombers of Boko Haram, ELSIEVER, September 2019.
- Mia Bloom and Hilary Matfess, Women as Symbols and Swords in Boko Haram’s Terror.
- Suicide Squad: Boko Haram’s use of the female suicide bomber, Taylor and Francis, July 16, 2019.
- Kathleen Turner, The Rise of Female Suicide Bombers, JSTOR, March 2016.
- John Campbell, Women, Boko Haram, and Suicide Bombings, Council on Foreign Relations, March 25, 2020.
- Vesna Markovic, Suicide Squad: Boko Haram’s Use of the Female Suicide Bomber, Research Gate, January 2018.
- Jason warner and Hilary, Exploding Stereotypes: The Unexpected Operational and Demographic Characteristics of Boko Haram’s Suicide Bombers, Combating Terrorism centre at west point.
- Ahmed, Suspected Suicide bombers kill 12 in Nigeria, Borno state, Reuters, June 2025.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author solely. TheRise.co.in neither endorses nor is responsible for them. Reproducing this content without permission is prohibited.