Report: Islamic State Kidnaps 500 Children Who Could Be Brainwashed to Become Terrorists and Suicide Bombers

Iraqi government officials are claiming that a total of 500 young children were recently abducted and are being trained by the Islamic State to potentially become terrorists and suicide bombers, according to a Turkish media report.

An official serving in Iraq's Anbar province is claiming that hundreds of children were recently taken over the course of a week from the cities of Rawa, Ar Rutba and Al-Qaim, the Christian Times reported.

"[The Islamic State] has kidnapped at least 400 children in the western province of Anbar, and taken them to their bases in Iraq, and Syria," Farhan Mohammed, a member of Anbar’s Provincial Council, told the Anadolu Agency, a state-run outlet in Turkey.

Mohammed also warned that other children could be in the same predicament in the future if they reside in areas that have been captured by the Islamic State. In addition to the 400 kids, another 100 were reportedly taken in a separate incident in Diyala, Iraq.

Diyala's Lieutenant General Kasim Al-Saidi said that these children were under the age of 16 and that they could be brainwashed and trained to become suicide bombers.

The Independent reported that these kids were potentially brought to Islamic State training camps, where indoctrination will likely unfold, noting that it is not uncommon to see children in propaganda videos released by the terror group.

As TheBlaze previously noted, a horrific report released back in February by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child detailed the Islamic State's treatment of children, including burying them alive, crucifying them, using them as human shields and recruiting mentally challenged children as suicide bombers.

“We have had reports of children, especially children who are mentally challenged, who have been used as suicide bombers, most probably without them even understanding,” U.N. committee expert Renate Winter told Reuters. “There was a video placed (online) that showed children at a very young age, approximately eight years of age and younger, to be trained already to become child soldiers.”

Read more about that abuse here.

(H/T: Christian Times)