Amid the ever-tragic barrage of horrors emerging from Iraqi and Syrian territories that are impacted by the Islamic State has come a story about a terrified little boy who was reportedly found strapped with a suicide bomb.
Media outlets have noted that the child, who was found last week, appeared to be around 7 years old, and that Iraqi forces had to calm him down while removing the explosives pack.
The little boy is said to have originally been spotted by Iraqi forces amid families who were fleeing Mosul, though these details have not been independently verified, the Daily Mail reported.
“Don’t be afraid,” a soldier is heard saying while using scissors to cut wires and successfully remove the bomb — harrowing moments seen in video footage that purports to show the tragic scene (watch the video here).
A soldier says in the clip, which was uploaded last week to Live Leak, that the video was captured on March 18, and that the boy was sent as a suicide bomber by the Islamic State. Again, these details have not been confirmed.
The child claimed to have been deployed by an “uncle” with the aim of targeting the army, according to the Daily Mail.
The video emerged amid ongoing efforts by Iraqi and coalition forces to push back against the Islamic State in Mosul. A senior Iraqi military official said on Sunday that a U.S.-led strike recently killed dozens of civilians in the region, as CNN reported.
Children have frequently been used as tools by the ever-barbaric Islamic State, with a video released earlier this year showing child soldiers killing Kurdish victims. According to the Christian Post, some of the children shown in that video were aged 10 or younger.
(H/T: Christian Post)
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