An eight-year-old girl child was kidnapped by Islamist militants and forced to wear a suicide vest to attack security forces, police said on Monday.

The kid was of Pakistan origin.

Police produced the girl, identified as Sohana Javaid, before a news conference broadcast on Pakistani television channels.

The girl narrated how she was kidnapped from her hometown of Peshawar and brought to the Lower Dir district in the northwest.

There were two men and two women sitting in a car. They kidnapped me, she told reporters in Dir, a Reuters report stated.

After getting her to wear a suicide vest, she was transported to a security check post.

They put one suicide vest on me, but it did not fit. Then they put on a second one, Sohana said. I threw away the vest and started shouting (for help) as I came close to the checkpost and they (security forces) took me into custody.

The incident could not be verified independently.

Pakistani authorities, who are facing a stubborn Taliban insurgency, have in the past produced would-be suicide bombers in front of television cameras. But they have been men or boys. Suicide bombings by women are rare in Pakistan.

The Taliban have been blamed for many of the suicide bombings across Pakistan, said the report.

Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan