ISIS looking to use children as suicide bombers in disturbing development

Chiqui Guyjoco Tuesday, August 23, 2016

In a disturbing development, it has been reported that ISIS is increasingly looking to use children, putting them in front line roles, and even going as far as pushing to use them as child suicide bombers. In one of the group's most recent terror attacks, a Kurdish wedding was targeted in Gaziantep, Turkey and left 51 dead and 69 wounded.

Afghan children look at the site of an attack by suicide bombers from the window of their house, west of Kabul, Afghanistan June 30, 2016. | Reuters/Mohammad Ismail

The 12 to 14-year-old attacker, suspected by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to be deployed by the Islamic State and Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS or Daesh) terrorist group, became the first child suicide bomber in Turkey. Yet, this may not be the first time ISIS strapped explosives around a child's body to carry out their military activities.

While the militia group has yet to make any claims on the bombing incident, ISIS is reportedly trying to train 1,400 Yazidi boys to be among its future jihadists and suicide bombers.

"Child recruitment across the region is increasing," Juliette Touma, a UNICEF regional spokesperson, told Reuters. "Children are taking a much more active role ..., receiving training on the use of heavy weapons, manning checkpoints on the front lines, being used as snipers and in extreme cases being used as suicide bombers."

Iraqi security forces in Kirkuk also intercepted a 12-year-old boy strapped with a suicide vest not more than a day after the blast in Turkey. According to Daily Mail, Kirkuk intelligence official Chato Fadhil Humadi reported that the boy "claimed during interrogation that he had been kidnapped by masked men who put the explosives on him and sent him to the area."

"Teenagers are easier to recruit for suicide missions, especially in moments of suffering or despair having lost loved ones," Reuters quoted Iraqi analyst Hisham al-Hashimi as saying. "They also attract less attention and less suspicion than male adults."

He added that ISIS responded to the massive losses incurred in Iraq and Syria by reactivating the group's Heaven's Youth Brigade.

ISIS released in May a mobile application called Huroof that is used to target children. The group calls their child recruits "Cubs of the Caliphates" while they refer to militant members as lions. The app uses colorful illustrations and teaches Arabic words.