Suicide bombers are a mainstay in modern warfare, shock or dismay rarely comes as headlines like, “suicide bomber kills 11″, are splattered across our TV screens and newspapers.  However while no longer a new tactic of war the use of suicide bombers has dramatically increased since its modern beginnings in the 198o’s which saw an average of 4.7 attacks a year to 180 attacks a year in the first half of the 2000’s (The Moral Logic and Growth of Suicide Terrorism Fig. 1, p.128).  In previous posts, such as, The Continued Rise of the Child Suicide Bomber (February 2008), the increased use of children as suicide bombers was brought to light. More than a year later the issue is as crucial as ever, as these manipulative and deadly tactics continue to haunt many regions.

I have shown you the images of infants and toddlers dressed in mock suicide bomber outfits in Palestine, children taunting and/or throwing rocks at civilians as they pass by, children with guns playing grim war games in the rubble of bombed out buildings, leaving notes for the enemy on missiles, etc. All of these images are as haunting as the next, but it is the reality of their message and likelihood to incite future violence amongst once innocent children that haunts one the most. In the piece, Child Suicide Bomber’s, Victims or Killers?, I debated and sought that children are truly victims, victims to an ideology of ignorance and hate, and often victims of their own parents. And while this crime is heinous to say the least, the battle to suppress the use of child suicide bombers continues.

Many children are being taught the ways of suicide bombing in religious schools, others by their parents or other relatives, however it is the use of religious schools that are on the rise. In Pakistan this has been seen with the use `madrassah’ (seminary schools) as a source point of indoctrinating children into the life and death of a suicide bomber seems to be increasing. Recently authorities in Pakistan have uncovered some of these “suicide bomber” schools.  However poverty and lack of education are not the only driving factor placing children into the arms of militants for suicide training, but as the fighting has become increasingly difficult and the Taliban faces more and more losses, their desperation grows, and in this desperation they have turned to kidnapping.  Children are not just kidnapped, they are now being bought and sold like commodities, not longer is a secret arms deal about a shipment of black market Kalashnikovs, but children. Pakistan’s most wanted terrorist, Baitullah Mehsud is known to literally buy and sell children for use as suicide bombers, according to Pakistani officials.

“He has been been admitting he holds a training center for young boys, for preparing them for suicide bombing,” Maj. Gen. Akhtar Abbas, spokesman for the Pakistani army, told CNN. “So he is on record saying all this, accepting these crimes.” Pakistan’s military released a shocking video showing children as young as 11 training for martyrdom missions (Daily News).

Last week news broke that the Pakistani government had rescued some 20 young boys among hundreds at a secret indoctrination camp for suicide bombers.  Though reports from other raids have shown some 200 children rescued and thousands of children trained for suicide missions.  “The boys, some as young as nine, have revealed details of how they were induced to become part of the Taliban’s army of jihad inside Pakistan and told their rescuers that more than 1,000 children may be undergoing training in the special camp in the Swat valley. Their discovery by the army as troops were sweeping through the valley conducting the final stages of a military offensive against the Taliban underscores the organization’s power over poor Pakistani communities and the extreme lengths Taliban commanders are willing to go to achieve their aims.” (The Independent)

The rescued children were held at a training camp in the Charbagh area of the Swat valley, where their indoctrination programme reportedly lasted more than a month. Some were recovered as the army was carrying out “search and sweep” operations as part of the final stages of its military offensive in the valley, while others were handed over to the army by worried parents.

According to Senior NWFP Minister Bashir Bilour, speaking on the recent rescue of Pakistani child suicide bombers in training;

…the rescued boys were thoroughly brainwashed so that they considered all others as infidels. “These children have been brainwashed in a way that now they even want to kill their own parents,” he said. Bilour said a number of the children were handed over to their parents, but only a few days later the parents came back complaining that the boys were threatening to kill them if they blocked their way (Press TV).

Why do the Taliban and other militant forces continue to use children as suicide bombers?  The answer is simple, they are easy to manipulate and influence, as well children are still seen as the least likely suspect and thus less likely to be arrested, making them more effective than their adult counterparts.

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Please see my previous posts on child suicide bombers here.