The Al Qaeda group has claimed that it is kidnapping young children
troubled Somali region and brainwashing them to launch future attacks.
The 'terrorist schools' keep the children - some as young as seven - chained up
to beds while they were taught an extreme version of Islam. The youths, all
under 10-years-old, were also taught about suicide bombings and told they would
go to paradise if they killed themselves in 'martyrdom-operations'. Pictures of
the locked-up children were uncovered by terror investigator Neil Doyle after
authorities carried out a raid on a school in Mogadishu. The classes, being
carried out at an Islamic Boarding School, were being taught by a member of the
Al Qaeda inspired Somali terrorist group Al Shabaab. The teacher claimed that
the children were in chains because they were missing classes. Most of the
children's parents were unaware they were there. The raid was one of a number
of operations sanctioned by the government in recent months and led to the
arrest of over 200 people. Mr Doyle said 'The images suggest Al Shabaab has
turned to slavery in order to produce a generation of child soldiers and
suicide bombers. Extreme teachings: The children were being taught an extreme
version of Islam and told they would go to paradise if they carried out
'martyrdom-operations' 'The group has lost a lot of ground to government troops
and it almost beggars belief that they have adopted widespread child abuse as a
way of trying to engineer a comeback. 'They are following in the footsteps of
other militants who target children, unfortunately, like the Afghan Taliban who
regularly poison students at girls' schools and...
shoot teachers.' The latest
revelation comes just days after Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for a
remote-controlled bomb that killed at least eight Somali government troops when
it hit their vehicle in Mogadishu. Government troops and African Union
peacekeepers say they have tightened security before a presidential election on
August 20 when the transitional government will be dissolved. A combined force
including Kenyan, Burundian, Ethiopian and Djiboutian troops is planning an
offensive on Kismayu, Somalia's second biggest city, and a hub for Al Shabaab,
before then. Al Shabaab has threatened more attacks as Somalia's three top
government officials and a dozen other politicians campaign for the presidency.
Last week the government foiled two would-be suicide bombers who targeted a
conference hall where delegates approved a draft constitution. Sheikh Abdiasis
Abu Musab, military spokesman for Al Shabaab, told Reuters: 'AMISOM and
government forces will never sleep or relax. More explosions await them.' The
uncovering of the schools further underlines fears that Al Shabaab has its
terrorist sights set on the UK after identical twin brothers were jailed last
week for posing as charity collectors to raise thousands of pounds for
terrorist organizations in Somalia. Shabir and Shafiq Ali, 25, imitated
legitimate fundraisers on street stalls collecting money for Palestinians and
the world’s poor. But the pair were in fact wiring money to their elder brother
after he travelled to Somalia to join the Islamic insurgency. They were caught
out after counter terrorism police raided their home and discovered a digital
recording of a phone conversation with him. Sentencing them at the Old Bailey
to three years in prison, Mr Justice Fulford said the men sent at least £3,000
to the Horn of Africa. He said their brother was determined to sacrifice his
life alongside others fighting to create an ‘Islamic Emirate of Somalia’ They
were inspired by Al-Qaeda hate preacher Anwar Al-Awlaki, the mastermind behind
a series of bomb attacks who was killed in a drone strike last year. The judge
added: ‘Both defendants worked to help somebody who was contributing to
terrorist activities in a war-torn country in Africa. ‘The court must reflect
the seriousness of offences of this kind in sentences given that they were
intended to support terrorism.’ Somalia's increasingly reputation as a
terrorist hub led to an international summit earlier this year when Foreign
Secretary William Hague said the UK must increase its efforts to stop terrorism
in Somalia.
May God deliver us. Oooo
ReplyDeleteRecruiting and using children under the age of 15 as soldiers which must certainly include in the capacity of suicide bombers, is prohibited under international humanitarian law – treaty and custom – and is defined as a war crime by the International Criminal Court and the acceptance of state-parties to the Rome Statute discerns the sufficiency of State Practice.
ReplyDeleteIn 2000, the UN General Assembly adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict to protect children from recruitment and use in hostilities.
The Paris Principles on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict 2007 was adopted by Afghanistan yet the taliban regime deliberately groom children to be suicide bombers & child soldiers which undeniably deprive children of the Right to Education.
THE DEAD CAN'T BE EDUCATED!