by Anike Jacobs

Boko Haram through its affiliate arm, al-Urwa-al-Wuthaqa, has published images showing a military training camp for children based in the North-east part of the country.

The photos which were recently released by al-Urwa-al-Wuthaqa Twitter handle, @Alurwa_Alwuthqa, shows, in one image, the children aiming guns while in another they were seen posing with weapons.

While some were holding AK47 assault rifles, others are holding cutouts of weapons. The pictures feature children of both genders.

According to Max Abrahms, professor of political science at Northwestern University and member at the Council of Foreign Relations, Boko Haram uses child soldiers in order to boost its membership numbers.

“Terrorist organisations have power in numbers. The more members in the group, the greater its capability. There is a correlation between the membership size of a terrorist group and its ability to inflict bloodshed,” he said.

“Terrorist groups will often try to amass the most members as possible even if they’re young boys or girls.”

Andrew Noakes, coordinator of the Nigeria Security Network, also says the group are struggling to recruit fighters, having “started alienating local people across northeast Nigeria with their brutal tactics”.

“To fill the gap they’ve turned to recruiting children and recruiting in neighbouring countries,” he says. “Boko Haram often uses its child soldiers and other forced recruits to form the first wave of an attack, before sending in the more experienced fighters to finish off operations.”

See photos below.

Sola