News: Girl, 13: Boko Haram tried to force me to become a suicide bomber

Kano, Nigeria (CNN) -- A 13-year-old
Nigerian girl told reporters that her
father handed her over to Islamist
militants to become a suicide
bomber, but she fled as two other
girls detonated their explosives at a
market earlier this month.
The girl was presented before the
media Wednesday to describe what
she called her forced role in the
deadly attack. Her father, she said,
joined Boko Haram and took his wife
and daughter to a village in the
forest in Bauchi state in northern
Nigeria.
"My father took us to the bush,
which was surrounded by gunmen,"
she said, according to a CNN
translation. "I was asked if I wanted
to go to heaven. When I answered,
they said I have to go for a suicide
mission and if I attempted to run
they would kill me."
The girl and two others were taken
by Boko Haram militants to Nigeria's
second most populous city, Kano,
and were dressed with explosives-
laden devices.
The other girls set off
hidden bombs that day,
killing four people, police
said.
"One of the girls said one
of us should enter the
market first," the girl told
reporters. "She said we
should separate when we
entered the market."
The girl described how
one attacker said the
third girl would set off
her bomb first, then the
remaining two would
detonate their
explosives.
"I said no. I said I would
not detonate," the girl
said.
She was wounded by one
of the explosions.
The teen escaped in a rickshaw that
she took to a former home in Kano,
the girl said. Neighbors saw her and
made her go to a hospital. She left
the explosive device in the cart, but
the driver and hospital officials
recognized the device and alerted
authorities.
The girl told police she was forced
into being a part of the attack.
What to know about Boko Haram
CNN has not independently verified
the girl's story. Police presented her
to the media without her parents or
a lawyer present. Officials wanted to
make clear the attack was the work
of Boko Haram.
"We want to disabuse the minds of
members of the public. ... This is
not a tribal war. It's a terrorism act
like we have had in the past," Kano
State Police Commissioner Adenerele
Shinabad said.
Boko Haram has terrorized northern
Nigeria regularly since 2009,
attacking police, schools, churches
and civilians, and bombing
government buildings. Violence has
increased sharply in recent months,
just ahead of Nigeria's February
elections.
Schoolgirl describes escape from
Boko Haram
The group has targeted mainstream
Islam, saying that it does not
represent the interests of Nigeria's
80 million Muslims and that it
perverts Islam.
In April, Boko Haram militants drew
international condemnation when
they kidnapped more than 200
schoolgirls, many of whom they said
they sold into slavery.
At least 5,000 people have died at
Boko Haram's hands, according to a
U.S. Congressional Research Service
report, making it one of the world's
deadliest terrorist organizations.
Why outrage alone will not defeat
Boko Haram and #BringBackOurGirls
CNN's Aminu Abubakr reported from
Kano and Steve Almasy wrote in
Atlanta. CNN's Jessica King
contributed to this report.