Now IS hides bombs inside teddy bears
IN the war-ravaged town of Mosul, a teddy bear or toy truck can be a rare treasure to a child.
But these innocent-looking playthings are actually the triggers for sinister booby traps that detonate as soon as they are touched.
The ploy marks a sickening new low for Islamic State, which currently holds Iraq’s second-largest city, as the bombs can only be intended to target children. Adults would probably walk straight past them.
These and other cunningly disguised improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have been put on display at a local training centre for bomb disposal experts as 40,000 soldiers, state-sanctioned militia and other fighters prepare to encircle Mosul to cut IS forces off from outside help.
Colonel Nawzad Kamil Hassan, an engineer with the Kurdish forces, told The Observer: ‘Why would [IS] use something nice, like a bear or a rabbit? They used this toy because they know the peshmerga (Kurdish fighters) will not touch it but children will.’ He added: ‘They are not even animals. They are worse than animals.’
His unit has cleared 50 tonnes of explosives in two years from areas once controlled by militants, including five tonnes from a single school in Sinjar city to the west of Mosul.
The city, around 250 miles north of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014. The offensive to take it back is the largest deployment of Iraqi forces since the 2003 invasion by the US and coalition troops.
Other IEDs, including some with detonators attached to playing cards, watches and lengths of hosepipe, have been laid out to slow the encroaching forces.