.US claims Qaeda using children as Iraq suicide bombers
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Al-Qaeda is using teenagers as suicide bombers in Iraq, a US military spokesman claimed on Sunday, as an influential Sunni cleric urged the jihadists to stop "strapping bombs to children."
The comments came as Iraqi troops and tanks rolled into Mosul to boost forces for a huge offensive against Al-Qaeda after deadly bombings in the restive northern city this week killed dozens, among them a police chief.
Rear Admiral Gregory Smith told a news conference in Baghdad that two suicide attacks in Iraq in the past week had been carried out by 15-year-olds.
"We are not sure whether one of these children even knew he was being used to deliver a bomb," the US military spokesman said.
One attack was carried out at a funeral ceremony near Tikrit, executed dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown north of Baghdad and the other was at a school in Mosul, Smith said.
He gave no details of the two bombings. Iraqi police said 17 people died in a January 21 suicide blast at the funeral near Tikrit for a relative of an Iraqi police colonel.
"Al-Qaeda in Iraq is trying to brainwash children with hate and death... they seek to create a culture of violence, hate and despair," said Smith.
"(They) are sending 15-year-old boys on suicide missions to spread death and helplessness."
Ninety percent of "suicide murders inflicted on Iraqi people are committed by foreign fighters brought in by Al-Qaeda in Iraq to spread destruction," Smith added.
Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samarraie, moderate but influential head of the Sunni endowment, Sunday accused the Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq of committing the "worst crimes against our people."
"They have killed thousands of thinkers, dozens of scholars, tens of thousands of innocent people in horrifying ways," Samarraie said in a statement.
The jihadists, he added, were "strapping bombs to children and sending them into gatherings and mourning ceremonies."
"They feel happy with these killings. They deceived young people to attach bombs to their bodies to explode themselves to go allegedly to paradise," he added, appealing to Islamic scholars around the world to declare such attacks as contrary to Sharia law.
Meanwhile, troop reinforcements sent to Mosul by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for a "final war" against Al-Qaeda have arrived, defence ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed al-Askari said.
"We have sent many soldiers, vehicles and tanks to Mosul at the request of our commanders there," he told AFP.
"They have been sent to Mosul to clean it of Al-Qaeda," he added, but declined to give details of the size of the reinforcements.
Maliki on Friday promised a "decisive battle" against the jihadists in Nineveh province after two days of deadly bomb attacks in Mosul, the provincial capital.
"We have formed an operations centre in Nineveh for a final war against Al-Qaeda and the remnants of the former (Saddam Hussein) regime," Maliki said.
"What we have planned in Nineveh will be final. It will be a decisive battle," he said.
At least 35 people were killed and 217 wounded in a massive bomb attack on Wednesday that obliterated a building and destroyed houses in west Mosul.
A suicide bomber killed provincial police chief Brigadier General Salah al-Juburi and two other officers the next day when they went to inspect the carnage.
US military spokesman Smith told the news conference in Baghdad that the bombings indicated desperation on the part of the insurgents.
"There are many signs that Iraq's enemies are becoming increasingly desperate and they are becoming increasingly appalling as well," he said.
AFP
The comments came as Iraqi troops and tanks rolled into Mosul to boost forces for a huge offensive against Al-Qaeda after deadly bombings in the restive northern city this week killed dozens, among them a police chief.
Rear Admiral Gregory Smith told a news conference in Baghdad that two suicide attacks in Iraq in the past week had been carried out by 15-year-olds.
"We are not sure whether one of these children even knew he was being used to deliver a bomb," the US military spokesman said.
One attack was carried out at a funeral ceremony near Tikrit, executed dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown north of Baghdad and the other was at a school in Mosul, Smith said.
He gave no details of the two bombings. Iraqi police said 17 people died in a January 21 suicide blast at the funeral near Tikrit for a relative of an Iraqi police colonel.
"Al-Qaeda in Iraq is trying to brainwash children with hate and death... they seek to create a culture of violence, hate and despair," said Smith.
"(They) are sending 15-year-old boys on suicide missions to spread death and helplessness."
Ninety percent of "suicide murders inflicted on Iraqi people are committed by foreign fighters brought in by Al-Qaeda in Iraq to spread destruction," Smith added.
Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samarraie, moderate but influential head of the Sunni endowment, Sunday accused the Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq of committing the "worst crimes against our people."
"They have killed thousands of thinkers, dozens of scholars, tens of thousands of innocent people in horrifying ways," Samarraie said in a statement.
The jihadists, he added, were "strapping bombs to children and sending them into gatherings and mourning ceremonies."
"They feel happy with these killings. They deceived young people to attach bombs to their bodies to explode themselves to go allegedly to paradise," he added, appealing to Islamic scholars around the world to declare such attacks as contrary to Sharia law.
Meanwhile, troop reinforcements sent to Mosul by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for a "final war" against Al-Qaeda have arrived, defence ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed al-Askari said.
"We have sent many soldiers, vehicles and tanks to Mosul at the request of our commanders there," he told AFP.
"They have been sent to Mosul to clean it of Al-Qaeda," he added, but declined to give details of the size of the reinforcements.
Maliki on Friday promised a "decisive battle" against the jihadists in Nineveh province after two days of deadly bomb attacks in Mosul, the provincial capital.
"We have formed an operations centre in Nineveh for a final war against Al-Qaeda and the remnants of the former (Saddam Hussein) regime," Maliki said.
"What we have planned in Nineveh will be final. It will be a decisive battle," he said.
At least 35 people were killed and 217 wounded in a massive bomb attack on Wednesday that obliterated a building and destroyed houses in west Mosul.
A suicide bomber killed provincial police chief Brigadier General Salah al-Juburi and two other officers the next day when they went to inspect the carnage.
US military spokesman Smith told the news conference in Baghdad that the bombings indicated desperation on the part of the insurgents.
"There are many signs that Iraq's enemies are becoming increasingly desperate and they are becoming increasingly appalling as well," he said.
AFP
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