On Monday, Police in Iraq arrested a boy believed to be sent by the Islamic State as a suicide bomber and uncovered a belt of explosives around his waist. The dramatic photographs show the child suicide bomber being stripped of his clothing and belt in the streets.The boy, who is likely between 12 and 14 years old, claims to have been kidnapped by ISIS and forced to wear the explosive belt. His goal was to blow up a Shia mosque outside of Kirkuk, Iraq.[caption id="attachment_7804" align="aligncenter" width="634"]
Source: Reuters[/caption]Images show the boy, shirtless, wearing track pants and with both hands held by police officers. He is shouting and looks very afraid.The thwarted attack comes on the heels of an attack in Turkey that was also carried out by a child suicide bomber. A young boy walked into a crowded wedding in Turkey and detonated a similar suicide device, killing at least 54 people.[caption id="attachment_7805" align="aligncenter" width="634"]
Source: Reuters[/caption]ISIS claimed the attack in Turkey.A separate blast on Monday at another Shiite mosque near Kirkuk also was attributed to the Islamic State, although the group made no mention of the young boy who was arrested by police.
Suicide Bomber, Sex Slave, Fighter: ISIS Exploits Children
The Islamic State’s army of child soldiers is known as the “cubs of the caliphate.” These children are often kidnapped, brought to ISIS-run schools, drugged and re-educated according to the terror group’s fatalistic interpretation of Islam.The children are also exposed to the group’s most barbaric acts of human rights violations. They are shown, firsthand, the beheadings, mass shootings, burnings, and killings, in order to indoctrinate them into the world of violence that ISIS seeks to propagate.Child suicide bombers are a hallmark of the Islamic State and other terror groups. On March 25, 2016, a teenage suicide bomber detonated explosives at a youth soccer game south of Baghdad, killing 29 and wounding 60.ISIS kidnaps girls and boys alike. The girls are more likely to be sold into sexual slavery while the boys become combatants and suicide bombers.