BAGHDAD — Every month 40 suicide bombers join the Islamic State in Iraq, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi claimed at a Monday conference in Baghdad.
Abadi said ISIS draws underage fighters and adolescents from 100 countries into Iraq. He was presenting his speech in the middle of an international conference on reducing child recruitment cohosted by the prime minister’s office and the Child Welfare Commission in Iraq.
“Before ISIS the Baath regime took the same maneuvers of child recruitment,” he said. He also called on UN authorities to take action to list child recruitment as a crime against humanity.
Abadi asked neighboring countries to set aside their past relationships and act hand-in-hand to fight ISIS. “All the countries in the region are under serious threat from ISIS, it’s not a mere threat to Shiites,” he said.
