Teenage ‘witch’ confesses to killing 47 children

13-year-old Nigerian ‘‘witch’’, who was charged today with killing a two-year-old boy, has admitted taking part in the ritual murders of 47 others.

Police arrested the girl, Jummai Hassan, in the northeastern city of Maiduguri last week. Authorities exhumed the body of the toddler, who has been identified only by his first name, Ibro.

While in custody, Hassan allegedly confessed to membership in a secret cult that she claimed trades in human organs for use in juju, or voodoo rituals, said national police spokesman Haz Iwendi.

All 48 killings had allegedly taken place in the past seven years, since the girl was supposed to have been initiated into the cult.

The girl named a civil servant, Michael Ashade Akinona, as also being involved in the murders, Iwendi said.

Police have subsequently arrested the man and discovered ‘‘black pots, powders and other paraphernalia’’ in his home believed to be linked to ‘‘occultism and other esoteric activities,’’ Iwendi said.

Borno State police commissioner Bala Ringim said Hassan had a history of alleged offences including burning down her neighbour’s house and an attempt on the life of another teenage girl.

Hassan appeared briefly in court today and offered to direct police to the graves of several other alleged victims, but so far the search had not turned up any more bodies, Iwendi said.

Despite her youth, the girl could be sentenced to life in prison or execution if convicted.

Police were also investigating a claim by the girl that a church in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, was a regular recipient of murder victims’ organs, including hearts and eyes.

‘‘Unless we get new information, we don’t know how far we can take this case,’’ the Borno police commissioner said.

Ritual killings are relatively common in parts of Africa’s most populous nation, where some believe that witchcraft medicine made with human remains have magical properties making traditional medicine practitioners rich or impregnable to bullets or disease.