Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Taliban indoctrinated 1500 kids to become suicide bombers

“I was told that it was a religious duty of every Muslim to get training to fight the enemies of Islam,”

Times Online

Murad Ali, one of five schoolboy suicide bombers rescued from a Taleban training camp, looks haggard beyond his 13 years.

He was thrilled at first when he was given a gun, but Murad told The Times last week of his ordeal at the hands of the Islamists, who have kidnapped 1,500 children like him to prepare for their fatal missions.[...]

The next stage of his training included 16 hours a day of physical exercise and psychological indoctrination. “My instructor told me that martyrdom is the biggest reward of Allah,” Murad said quietly.

Another boy, Abdul Wahab, 15, said that the Taleban lured him to the camp from his studies at a madrassa — Islamic school — in Mingora. “I was told that it was a religious duty of every Muslim to get training to fight the enemies of Islam,” he said.[...]

The Army believes that between 1,200 to 1,500 boys as young as 11 who were trained in Swat to become suicide bombers were recruited after the Pakistani Government signed a peace deal with the Taleban in February, handing over control of the valley to the militants.[...]

The children were told that they should not allow anyone, even their parents, to get in the way of jihad. “You must not hesitate even to kill your parents if they are on the wrong side,” said Kurshid Khan, 14, who was selected for training which could have taken him to South Waziristan.[...]

Pakistani intelligence officials said that 70 per cent of suicide bombers were trained at the camps run by Qari Hussain, who is Mr Mehsud’s most trusted lieutenant. Mr Hussain often boasted that he could convince anyone in ten minutes to become a suicide bomber.

They believe that many of the children trained at Mr Hussain’s camps have carried out attacks on US and Nato forces in Afghanistan. A recent UN report said that 80 per cent of the bombers involved in attacks in Afghanistan came from camps in Pakistan.

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