ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The so-called Islamic State, or ISIS, in Mosul has reportedly executed a group of boys and young men between the ages of 12 and 16 trying to flee the extremist-held city, a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) official told Rudaw on Saturday.
“At least 12 children have been reportedly killed by the Islamic State radicals. The children were receiving training at Ashti military camp in Mosul and they were caught trying to escape,” Saeed Mamuzini, media officer of the Mosul branch of the KDP, told Rudaw.
“The ages of the executed children are around 12 to 16. They are mostly Arabs from Mosul,” Mamuzini added.
ISIS has in the past released video footage of extremists training child soldiers in Mosul.
The radical Muslim group ISIS is known to actively use children in its war effort, and views them as the future generation of a “caliphate” that occupies parts of Iraq and Syria. The practice is considered a war crime by the UN and is a violation of international law.
ISIS has adapted the school system in the areas under its control to fit its ambitions.
“The boys study at school not to learn, but to become mujahideen,” a father from Fallujah complained to The Associated Press.
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