USA TODAY International Edition
Islamic State warps children into deadly terror weapons
Youth are often recruited by force or family members committed to the militants’ cause
A child whose attempted suicide bombing in Iraq was thwarted Sunday and other minors used in successful terror attacks are part of the Islamic State’s strategy to develop a new generation of believers to carry on its violent ideology.
“Most terror groups find it difficult to rationalize or explain child recruitment,” said John Horgan, a researcher at Georgia State University who is co- writing a book on the subject. “The Islamic State is one of the few groups that is very proud to an- nounce to the world, not only are they doing it, but it’s also the future.”
Sunday, a boy age 12 or 13 was captured in Kurdish- held Kirkuk, Iraq, before he could detonate an explosive belt he said had been strapped to his body by masked men, the Kurdish news agency Rudaw reported. Security officials carefully defused and removed the bomb.
That incident occurred as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a suicide bomber who was 12 to 14 killed 54 people and injured nearly 70 at an outdoor wedding Saturday in Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey.
Turkish officials backtracked on the bomber’s age Monday, when Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said it was unclear whether the bomber was “a child or a grownup,” according to the Associated Press.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack, though Erdogan blamed the Islamic State, which has been behind other recent attacks in the country.
The use of children to carry out such heinous attacks is not new. The Islamic State has drawn attention with videos of children participating in firing squads and beheadings. The group’s propaganda videos and other publications make clear the role of children in the extremist organization is a norm, not just a shock factor.
Horgan’s research cites an Islamic State video from 2015 that showed children dressed in military uniforms fatally shooting 25 Syrian regime troops in front of a large crowd at an amphitheater in the ancient city of Palmyra. His research partner, Mia Bloom, said the radical group has boasted of at least 143 children “martyrs” for its cause.
The United Nations documented in April that 362 children were recruited to fight in Syria — 274 by the Islamic State.
The terror group is following a strategy for the long haul, Horgan said. “On an almost daily basis, children are featured in multiple contexts, from highly publicized executions and training camps to Quran memorization fairs and dawa ( charity) caravans,” Horgan co- wrote in an article for the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.
Armies historically have used children as drummer boys and standard- bearers. The militant groups Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza teach children to hate Israelis and look forward to killing them. Like the Sri Lanka rebels, Tamil Tigers and various African and Colombian militias, groups fighting in Syria use children for spying, smuggling and combat.
The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, goes further in developing a system to recruit, indoctrinate and deploy children, Horgan said.
Bloom said children are often recruited by force or family members committed to the cause. “We had a story of a Syrian boy. The father said, ‘ No, I don’t want you joining the cult,’ ” Bloom said. “ISIS fighters visited the house and said, ‘ If you don’t let your son join, your head will be on a stick.’ ”
The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, goes even further in developing a system to recruit, indoctrinate and deploy children.
Horgan and Bloom described the Islamic State’s process:
In the initial seduction phase, fighters roll into a village, hold Quran recitation contests, give out candy and toys and gently expose children to the group. This part often involves ice cream, Bloom said.
Schooling provides exposure to the group’s ideology and allows talent spotters to identify prospects for various jobs. “To desensitize them to violence, they’re shown videos of beheadings, attend a live beheading,” Bloom said. Then the children participate in beheadings, by handing out knives or leading prisoners to their deaths.
Children are taken from school to military training, including uniforms, marching, drills, weapons training and continued indoctrination. This period lasts one to two months.
The subjugation phase exposes children to a brutal bootcamp type of experience. They graduate with a deep camaraderie with fellow troops, Horgan said.