The number of children used for “suicide” bombings in some African nations has increased 10-fold during the last year, according to a new report from unicef. The children used in the attacks are as young as 8, and more than 75 percent are girls.

The report focused on Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad, showing that the number of children involved in such attacks has increased from four in 2014 up to 44 in 2015. Cameroon recorded the highest number with 21 such bombings, followed by Nigeria at 17 and Chad at two.

Although those are small numbers, each bombing generally kills dozens or scores of people in addition to the bomber. They also paralyze the affected communities by injecting them with fear.

The report’s authors say it is important not to view the children involved as legitimate terrorists, nor to view their deaths as true suicides. “Let us be clear: These children are victims, not perpetrators,” said Manuel Fontaine, unicef’s regional director for West and Central Africa. “Deceiving children and forcing them to carry out deadly acts has been one of the most horrific aspects of the violence in Nigeria and in neighboring countries.”

In many cases, the children involved likely did not even realize they were carrying explosives, which are often detonated remotely. Nevertheless, the trend has caused many people in the affected areas to fear children. “As ‘suicide’ attacks involving children become commonplace, some communities are starting to see children as threats to their safety,” Fontaine said. “This suspicion towards children can have destructive consequences; how can a community rebuild itself when it is casting out its own sisters, daughters and mothers?”

unicef said that the “calculated use of children who may have been coerced into carrying bombs has created an atmosphere of fear and suspicion that has devastating consequences.”

The primary group behind this carnage is the Sunni Islamist Boko Haram, which is waging a crusade against Shia Muslims, Christians, representatives of the Nigerian government, and any school that it believes is teaching Western education.

unicef spokesman Laurent Duvillier said that the “use of children, especially girls, as so-called suicide bombers has become a defining and alarming feature” of Boko Haram’s jihad.

Boko Haram’s name translates to “Western education is a sin,” and it has targeted more than 910 schools so far. Some 1,500 schools have closed as a direct result of its attacks.

Children are suffering more than any other group as a result of Boko Haram’s devastating impact. Besides those that the terrorists directly target by kidnapping and weaponizing, an estimated 1 million other children have been left without education as a result of Boko Haram’s terrorism.

“In its brutal crusade against Western-style education, Boko Haram is robbing an entire generation of children in northeast Nigeria of their education,” said Mausi Segun, a researcher at Human Rights Watch.