BREAKING NEWS: CHILDREN TRAINED AS SUICIDE BOMBERS IN IRAQ

Children trained as suicide bombers in Iraq

James Hider, Baghdad April 22, 2009

Article from: The Australian

IRAQI security forces have arrested four children who were allegedly part of a group of youngsters groomed by al-Qa'ida to become suicide bombers, an Iraqi army general said.
The children, who were detained in a village near the northern city of Kirkuk, were part of a cell known as the "Birds of Paradise" and were trained to avoid detection as they carried out attacks, security officials said yesterday.
"Special forces units have arrested an organisation of children consisting of four individuals under the age of 14 who call themselves the Birds of Paradise," said General Abdelamir al-Zaidi, commander of the Iraqi army division in Kirkuk.
"The group relies on children and is connected to al-Qa'ida. It works to recruit children and young people to carry out suicide attacks and to aid the terrorist groups in detonating roadside bombs."
Al-Qa'ida groups have previously used Iraqi children to carry out attacks on US and Iraqi security forces, even deploying them as a cover to sneak a car bomb past a Baghdad checkpoint before detonating the device with the youngsters still inside.