MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Islamic State jihadist group abducted 182 children in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul to train them as militants and use them as suicide bombers, a representative of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the city said as quoted by the local media on Saturday.
“During the past few days, ISIS militants kidnapped 182 children from the city of Mosul. … The children were transferred to centers for ideological training, weapons and suicide operations,” Saeed Mamouzini said as quoted by the local IraqiNews portal.
ISIL, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), is an extremist religious group that operates mainly in Iraq and Syria where it has captured large territories.
ISIL took Iraq’s second largest city Mosul in June 2014 after the US trained and equipped Iraqi Army had fled, leaving behind significant amounts of US military hardware.
On Wednesday, a UN envoy to Iraq said that ISIL controls one-third of the country a year after the fall of Mosul.
