Girl, nine, used as human bomb

A girl of nine has told how she escaped Pakistani terrorists who tried to use her as a human bomb.

Sohana Jawed said she was kidnapped on her way to school in Peshawar, and forced to wear a remotely-controlled suicide jacket.

But she escaped her captors as they prepared to send her towards a paramilitary checkpoint.

Sohana, wearing her a blue and white school uniform, recounted her ordeal during a news conference with police in Lower Dir district. Militants in Pakistan have often used young boys to carry out attacks, but the use of young girls is rare.

Sohana said she was going to school on Saturday when she was grabbed by two women and forced into a car carrying two men.

One of the kidnappers put a handkerchief on her mouth that knocked her unconscious, she said in an interview with a local TV station.

When she woke up and started crying, one of the women gave her biscuits laced with something that again knocked her out, she said. The next time she woke up she found herself in a strange home.

“This morning, the women and men forced me to put on the heavy jacket and put me in the car again,” said Sohana.

The suicide jacket contained nearly 20lbs of explosives and seemed to be designed to be set off remotely, Lower Dir police chief Salim Marwat said.

“Most likely it had to be detonated through a remote control since a minor was wearing it,” he said.

The kidnappers took her to a checkpoint run by the paramilitary Frontier Corps about six miles outside Timergarah, the main town in Lower Dir district. When they got out of the car, she sprinted toward the paramilitary soldiers to show them what she was wearing, said Mr Marwat.

“I got the chance to release my hand from the woman and run,” said Sohana.

By the time the paramilitary soldiers realised what was happening, the kidnappers had escaped, said Mr Marwat.

It is unclear why the kidnappers did not detonate the bomb after Jawed Sohana ran away. Mr Marwat suggested they may have simply panicked and fled.

Police in plan to question her further after she is examined by a psychiatrist, who is helping her cope with the trauma of her ordeal.