(Iraq) Raid detects al-Qaeda child recruitment

[sabra]

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

A RAID on an al-Qaeda hideout north of Baghdad has uncovered evidence of a network of child suicide bombers who have been coerced into launching terrorist attacks across Iraq.

A blueprint for the training and recruitment of children was stored on a computer memory stick found on the body of an emir of al-Qaeda in northern Iraq after he was killed in an assault on his underground hideout in mid-November.

Military and intelligence officials say Abu Ghazwan, the most wanted man in the Diyala province, 64 kilometres north of the capital, was directly responsible for recruiting many children as suicide bombers, including two who detonated themselves during the summer.

Data recovered from the raid reveals Ghazwan was using youth groups to recruit young men in a network that spread as far north as Mosul and to Abu Ghraib west of Baghdad. The use of children had been seen as a way to bypass security checks that have gradually become more stringent nationwide.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/12/04/1228257230004.html?feed=fairfaxdigitalxml