press releases 2008

Videos Show al-Qaida in Iraq Recruiting Children for Terrorism

Terrorist group using Internet, schools to attract young people

February 8, 2008

Washington -- Al-Qaida in Iraq is recruiting and training boys -- some younger than 11 -- to kidnap and kill, senior U.S. and Iraqi military spokesmen said during a February 6 press briefing in Iraq.

Five training tapes recovered in a December 2007 raid show as many as 20 boys, most thought to be younger than 11 years old, carrying automatic weapons and grenades, storming homes in mock kidnappings and assassinations and sitting in a circle chanting their allegiance to al-Qaida.

In the videos, which carry what appear to be July 13, 2007, date stamps, the boys carry weapons, including pistols, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

Multi-National Force - Iraq spokesman Navy Rear Admiral Gregory J. Smith said that this is not the first such recovery of videos and photos showing al-Qaida in Iraq training children, but that the “the volume and content was the most significant and disturbing we’ve found to date.”

Iraqi Major General Mohammad al Askari, a spokesman for Iraq’s Defense Ministry, said al-Qaida in Iraq is using children ages 8 to 14 as suicide bombers.  He also cited a recent trend by al-Qaida to kidnap children and hold them for ransom to fund the organization’s operations.

The rescue of an 11-year-old boy who had been kidnapped was documented in a video shown at the briefing. Al-Qaida in Iraq demanded that $100,000 be given for the boy’s return or, the group said, he would be beheaded, Askari said.

WOMEN ALSO TARGETED

Al-Qaida often refers to children as the “new generation of the Mujahidin,” or warriors engaged in a jihad, Smith said. There are also reports of al-Qaida entering schools and distributing its propaganda. Thousands of al-Qaida-sponsored Web sites target children, he said.

Recently, two 15-year-old boys were used in suicide bombings in Iraq. Al-Qaida also appears to be increasing the use of women as suicide bombers. Prior to 2007, only five women were known to have carried out suicide attacks. In 2007, there were 10 such attacks, and attacks using women already have taken place in 2008, Smith said.

Terrorism experts say that the use of children and women by terrorist groups is becoming increasingly common as a method that is designed to thwart anti-terrorist and security measures. (See “Using Children as Suicide Attackers Increases Sense of Barbarity.”)

Some 300,000 children under 18 are being exploited in more than 30 armed conflicts worldwide, according to estimates from UNICEF. The United Nations’ International Labour Organization condemns the forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict at one of “the worst forms of child labour.”

For additional information, see a transcript of the press briefing and a video link to the briefing on the Defense Department Web site.