IS changes Iraqi children into terrorists

They often lures children with ice cream and toys to a place and indoctrinate them with Islamic extremism. Children who are often exposed to videos of beheadings, they get desensitized to stabbing people with a knife.

USA Today introduced Monday how the Islamic State (IS) turns children into terrorists. Children get closer to the IS out of curiosity at first but were forced to become a cruel terrorist to survive.

After a suicide bombing by a teenager and a failed terrorist attempt, the Middle East has raised alarms against child suicide bombers. A deadly bombing attack killed 54 people at an outdoor wedding ceremony in Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey on Saturday. Immediately after the incident, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a suicide bomber who was between 12 and 14 and the IS is responsible for it. Two days later, however, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the group responsible for the attack and the terrorist’s initial information is not consistent.

On Sunday night, a 15-year-old boy who was attempting a suicide attack at a Shia mosque in Kirkuk in northern Iraq was arrested by police. In a uniform reading Lionel Messi, the boy resisted arrest and burst into tears. "The terrorists kidnapped and forced me to detonate explosives in a populated area," the boy claimed.

USA Today said that hundreds of IS child terrorists are fostered in Syria and their role in the extremist organization is a norm and not just a shock factor. According to the Global Studies Institute at Georgia State University, the videos released by the IS showed that at least 143 children are active in the terrorist group. The United Nations documented in April that 362 children were recruited by terrorist groups and 274 by the Islamic State.

Few children are recruited by the ideology of the IS. IS fighters take away children by threatening their parents, saying, “If you don’t let your child join, your head will be on a stick.” There are also hundreds of children from Britain, Tunisia and France, brought to Syria or Iraq by a father or uncle.

Some are recruited in a public way. In the initial seduction phase, Islamic State fighters roll into a village or neighborhood, hold Quran recitation contests, give out candy, ice cream and toys, and gently expose children to the group. Schooling provides exposure to the group's ideology and allows talent spotters to identify prospects. They are shown videos of beheadings, and then the children participate in beheadings, by handing out knives or attend live beheadings. “The gradual process is similar to that used by a pedophile who lures a child into sex, slowly breaking down the boundaries, making something unnatural seem normal,” USA Today said.

After selection, children are taken from schools to military boot camps. After live-fire training, sleeping on flea-ridden mattresses, and being beaten with sticks, they graduate with a deep camaraderie with fellow troops. Eventually, children are taught to specialize in various jobs including bodyguard, photojournalist and suicide bombers. Innocent kids who liked sweets suddenly turn into brutal terrorists.

“The Islamic State is one of the few groups that is very proud to announce to the world, not only are they doing it, but it’s also the future,” professor John Horgan at the Georgia State University said. “Today’s victims are tomorrow’s terrorists, and no one will view them as victims anymore.”

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