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A 16-year-old girl kidnapped with her 1-month-old baby by Boko Haram has successfully escaped from the terrorist group's camp. The girl was kidnapped from her home in northern Cameroon 18 months ago, taken to Nigeria, married off to an extremist fighter and then trained to be a suicide bomber.
According to AFP, the girl succeeded in escaping Boko Haram last week when the Nigerian military launched a raid on a Boko Haram camp. She wandered through Sambisa Forest in northeastern Nigeria for several days until, tired, weak and hungry, she was found by members of a local defense group fighting the extremists, who handed her over to Cameroon's military, said Midjiyawa Bakary governor of the Far North region of Cameroon.
Narrating her story, she said: "When the Nigerian army attacked the Boko Haram camp where we were, there was confusion everywhere and I escaped to the forest where I walked for a week and handed myself to the first people I saw."
The Cameroonian girl was on Sunday reunited with her parents but her daughter, she said tearfully, had been left with the man she was forced to marry after her kidnapping.
"I was taken to a prison in a cave where we were locked up for three weeks and then distributed to men. We were given food every morning to prepare for our husbands," she said in the local Hausa and Fulfulde languages through an interpreter. "Every afternoon we were asked to pray and vow that we would remain obedient."
She said she and many other girls were trained to be suicide bombers. "They took us two times every week and gave us lessons on how to detonate bombs. We were told if we died while defending Allah's cause against evil men, we shall be received in paradise." she said
She was welcomed back to the village by crowds of people, including government officials and traditional rulers. Her 52-year-old father was overjoyed at seeing her again.
"I am grateful to all those who fought hard for the release of my daughter. As you can see, all of Tourou is very happy that she is back, even though her 2-year old daughter is not here with us.
"Our immediate plight now is how to have her treated because she looks tired and very sick." He is quoted by AFP as saying.
The girl is now in need of medical attention as she tries to recover from the trauma.