Child suicide bombers bought by Pakistan Taliban

Children are being bought and sold for use as suicide bombers, say officials in Pakistan. Top Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud has been using children more in attacks, the officials said today. Mehsud is an Al Qaeda ally and is considered to be the mastermind of a 2007 attack that killed Pakistan's Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. A video shot by the Taliban and released by the Pakistan army shows the children going through exercises at a training camp for the task. Once they’re trained up as suicide bombers, Mehsud is selling the children, to other Taliban officials for $6,000 to $12,000, (about £4,000 to £7,500) Pakistani military officials said.

Some of the children training for martyrdom missions are just 11 years old. "He has been admitting he holds a training centre for young boys, for preparing them for suicide bombing. So he is on record saying all this, accepting these crimes," Major General Akhtar Abbas, spokesman for the Pakistani army told US news channel, CNN. The young suicide bombers may be able to reach targets unnoticed, the army said. "If he is approaching on foot, there is a possibility he will bypass security," Major General Abbas said. "In certain areas, there is a possibility everyone can not be checked physically, so he can create havoc there."

Pakistan has launched an offensive against the Taliban, started in the Swat region of the North West. The Taliban fought back with a spate of suicide bombings, including a July 2 attack in Rawalpindi, in which a suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck a Pakistani Defence Ministry bus. At least one person was killed and 29 others were wounded. The US and Pakistani military have been targeting known Taliban strongholds controlled by Mehsud. On Tuesday, the US plane fired a missile into a Taliban camp near the Afghan border, according to intelligence officials. But US officials will not confirm missions or attacks on Pakistani soil. The capital, Islamabad has complained in the past about such military action, but it is believed to be working closely with the US to hunt the Taliban leader.

The missile strikes in South Waziristan targeted a suspected Taliban hideout at a madrassa, or Muslim school, in Zangarah, according to intelligence officials. The attack near the border with Afghanistan involved a pair of missiles shot from an unmanned drone, local resident Janbaz Mehsud told CNN. He said all the dead and wounded were Taliban, the broadcaster reported.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children