SCHOOLS OF JIHAD
Rescued kids as young as 5 were being trained to carry out IS terror attacks
HUNDREDS of children recruited for training as terrorists have been rescued from Islamic State classrooms.
Kids as young as five, dubbed Cubs of t he Caliphate, are being indoctrinated and taught to kill by jihadis in Iraq and Syria.
Many have been freed by Iraqi forces advancing on the key IS city of Mosul.
Now aid workers from the charity War Child are providing therapy for youngsters haunted by the horrors they have seen. Details were released for Red Hands Day today, which highlights the global plight of child soldiers. One of the children taken for brainwashing by IS is Brahim, 10. He had to watch the executions of many of his family who served in the police and had ties to Kurdish Peshmerga militia.
Brahim said: “They were teaching us from IS books – a tank plus a tank equals two tanks. In the playground they were giving us IS training.
“They were giving us a pistol without bullets. We were running and pretending to shoot. They wanted to teach us how to kill the Peshmerga.” Videos have emerged showing young children carrying out IS executions. Others have died carrying out suicide bombings
More than 50 UK children are in the “caliphate”, the anti-extremist Quilliam Foundation said last year.
Among them is Isa Dare, who was nicknamed Jihadi Junior. His mother, Muslim convert Grace Dare from London, took him to join IS as a baby four years ago. He was filmed with an AK47 threatening to “kill infidels”.
Figures show 314 children have been detained for terrorism in Iraq out of around 1,000 abducted by IS.
In neighbouring Syria, there 362 verified cases of child soldiers, 56 per of whom were under 15.
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