Children Being Used as Suicide Bombers by Taliban

The New York Daily News reports that two children and a teenager were recently arrested in Afghanistan for carrying improvised bombs and remote-controlled devices. The children, aged 8, 12 and 17 were believed to be part of a growing cadre of suicide bombers recruited by the Taliban.

According to Aziz Farotan, a spokesman for UNICEF in Kabul, a minimum of 316 children under the age of 18 were recruited by the Taliban in 2011 to fight against the government. Although the Taliban will not admit to the recruitment of children, this is not the first time children have been arrested in the area for terrorist-related activities.

Last August, close to 24 children – the youngest just eight years-old, were released from a detention center by Afghan President Hamid Karzai. (...)