There has been a significant increase in the number of children, especially girls, being used as human bombs in North-Eastern Nigeria, the United Nations Children’s Fund said on Tuesday. Since January 1, 83 children have been used as human bombs, including 55 girls mostly under the age of 15, 27 boys and one baby strapped to a girl, according to Unicef.

The UN agency said that the Boko Haram militant group has, in many of these cases, claimed responsibility for the attacks. It highlighted that the number of children used as human bombs this year was already four times that in 2016.

Boko Haram’s use of children as human bombs has led to fear and suspicion of the children who were released or escaped from the group, Unicef said, adding that they had been providing psycho-social support to them and were working with families and communities to enable their social acceptance.