KANDAHAR: Afghan authorities said on Monday they had detained a 10-year-old girl for attempting to carry out a suicide attack wearing a vest packed with explosives.

The girl, named as Spozhmai, appeared at press conference in Lashkar Gah, capital of the southern province of Helmand, where she told reporters how her brother had forced her to wear the vest and ordered her to detonate herself at a police checkpoint.

“I was tired of my stepmother. My brother told me to wear the black vest, go to the police checkpoint and press the button,” she told reporters.

“I went past a river and decided to drop the vest. My brother fled and police arrested me.”—AFP