ISIL recruiting Iraqi kids for bombing: Tribal chief

The ISIL Takfiri group has been recruiting children in the restive Iraqi province of al-Anbar to train them for bombing, a tribal leader says.

Sheikh Khalid Awad al-Shabani, a tribal leader in Anbar, told the Kurdish newspaper Rudaw on Tuesday that the Takfiri group is actively trying to lure local children into its ranks as would-be bombers.

He said the ISIL terrorist group has “entered many areas of Anbar and started recruiting children from the local tribes of Anbar."

The tribal leader added that the terrorist group has set up training camps for children in the Syrian province of Raqqah and the district of Heet in Iraq's Anbar.

Shabani also called on the Iraqi government to "expedite the process of liberating the areas under ISIS (ISIL) control and destroy the camps that recruit children.”

“We all know that extremist ideology of ISIS (ISIL) is not related to Islam. They make up verses that do not exist in the [holy] Qur'an,” he added.

According to the Iraqi sheikh, the terrorist group brainwashes children in the camps and trains them how to conduct bomb attacks against military checkpoints and civilians.

“The government has the responsibility to direct the parents to prevent their children from joining ISIS (ISIL). The government should use all its forces in order to prevent recruiting children," Shabani said.

On June 15, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said that the ISIL Takfiri group “conducts organized recruitment for children in 100 countries," adding, “The exploitation of children for murder is a heinous crime.”

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in March that the ISIL militant group had recruited at least 400 children in conflict-hit Syria in 2015, and exposed them to the Saudi-backed ultra-extremist Wahhabi ideology and military training.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been experiencing horrific violence ever since the ISIL terrorists launched their operations across the country in June 2014. ISIL is also wreaking havoc in Syria.

The Iraqi and Syrian government and pro-government forces have engaged in various military operations to flush the ISIL terrorists out of the areas they have under control.

IA/KA/HMV

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk