The United Nations children's agency, Unicef, has said it is extremely concerned about an increase in the use of children as suicide bombers in northeastern Nigeria.


In a statement issued on Tuesday, Unicef said four times as many cases had been recorded so far this year, compared to the whole of last year.

In the document, Unicef uses the term "human bombs" instead of "suicide bombers" to refer to the phenomenon.

Unicef says this tactic is an atrocity causing fear and suspicion of children released by the militants.

The Islamist militant group Boko Haram, operating in north-east Nigeria, has been running a brutal campaign in the region for the past eight years, claiming 20,000 lives and driving over two million people from their homes.

Since January this year, Unicef has recorded 83 cases of children being used as suicide bombers.

Of that number 55 were girls who were mostly under the age of 15, 27 were boys, and in one case a bomb was strapped to a baby being carried by a young girl.