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Children, aged 5, used to plant Taliban bombs in Afghanistan
http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC100702-0000078/Children,-aged-5,-used-to-plant-Taliban-bombs-in-Afghanistan
05:55 AM Jul 02, 2010
SANGIN - Children as young as five are being used by the Taliban to lay bombs and carry weapons in a deadly new tactic in Afghanistan.
In the past five months the number of child insurgents has increased almost five-fold in the town of Sangin, to a band of 40, who are used to run weapons, plant bombs and carry out tasks for the Taliban.
The Taliban have resorted to the tactic because they know that NATO troops are unlikely to fire on children planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
There have been 44 roadside bombs in Sangin in the past months, a fifth of which were carried out by children.
Children are also used to help identify commanders or officers, who are then targeted by bombers or gunmen. They also carry guns or rocket-propelled grenades for the Taliban to be used in ambushes or are asked to connect IEDs to batteries.
In an incident that left British Marines deeply shocked, a boy, believed to be 14, arrived at a compound where he started chatting to one of commandos. "We were having a joke, he wrote his name on my hand and then asked me if I was an officer," said Marine Tim Jones, 26, a Pashtun speaker.
Twenty minutes later, the boy returned and went up to the corporal in charge of the patrol and detonated a suicide vest. But it is believed the boy put the vest on the wrong way round and caused only minor injuries to the corporal while killing himself. The CDaily Telegraph
http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC100702-0000078/Children,-aged-5,-used-to-plant-Taliban-bombs-in-Afghanistan
05:55 AM Jul 02, 2010
SANGIN - Children as young as five are being used by the Taliban to lay bombs and carry weapons in a deadly new tactic in Afghanistan.
In the past five months the number of child insurgents has increased almost five-fold in the town of Sangin, to a band of 40, who are used to run weapons, plant bombs and carry out tasks for the Taliban.
The Taliban have resorted to the tactic because they know that NATO troops are unlikely to fire on children planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
There have been 44 roadside bombs in Sangin in the past months, a fifth of which were carried out by children.
Children are also used to help identify commanders or officers, who are then targeted by bombers or gunmen. They also carry guns or rocket-propelled grenades for the Taliban to be used in ambushes or are asked to connect IEDs to batteries.
In an incident that left British Marines deeply shocked, a boy, believed to be 14, arrived at a compound where he started chatting to one of commandos. "We were having a joke, he wrote his name on my hand and then asked me if I was an officer," said Marine Tim Jones, 26, a Pashtun speaker.
Twenty minutes later, the boy returned and went up to the corporal in charge of the patrol and detonated a suicide vest. But it is believed the boy put the vest on the wrong way round and caused only minor injuries to the corporal while killing himself. The CDaily Telegraph
