Taliban rebuild children's suicide camp in South WaziristanBy Bill Roggio
October 6, 2008 5:36 PM
Scores of children train to become suicide bombers at a camp run by Qair Hussain in Spinkai,
South Waziristan. Image courtesy of AfPax Insider. The Taliban have rebuilt a camp in South Waziristan that
trains children to be suicide bombers, a video from Pakistan shows.
Children as young as seven years old are indoctrinated to wage jihad in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The video, obtained by AfPax Insider, was shot in August in Spinkai Ragzai, South Waziristan, a tribal area run by Pakistani Taliban leader
Baitullah Mehsud. The Taliban are seen "training dozens of boys ranging in age from seven to 14," the news service reported. "The video
attempts to justify suicide bombings as a legitimate means of attack against "infidels.'"
The images shows the children reading from the Quran and an adult Taliban training the children. One slide shows a poster board with the words
"Killing a Spy" written in English.
While not explicitly stated in the AfPax Insider report, the camp is run by Qari Hussain, a senior lieutenant to Baitullah who has close links to
al Qaeda. Hussain has rebuilt his child training camp after the Pakistani military demolished his suicide nursery during a short offensive in
Spinkai in January 2008.
In May, a senior Pakistani general described the previous camp as a "factory." The military seized numerous documents and training materials
in the demolished camp.
"It was like a factory that had been
recruiting nine to 12-year-old boys, and turning them into suicide bombers," said Major
General Tariq Khan, the commander of Pakistan's 14 Division, which led the operation in South Waziristan.
"The computers, other equipment and literature seized from the place ... give graphic details of the training process in this so-called "nursery,"
Dawn reported in May. "
There are videos of young boys carrying out executions, a classroom where 10- to 12-year olds are sitting in
formations, with white band of Quranic verses wrapped around their forehead, and there are training videos to show how improvised explosive
devices are made and detonated."
The Pakistani military launched the operation in South Waziristan on Jan. 24 after Taliban forces commanded by Baitullah overran two military
outposts and conducted attacks against other forts and military convoys in the tribal agency.
The Pakistani military reported that Hussain was killed in January after intercepting Taliban communications. The military later reiterated that
claim during the tour of the Spinkai camp on May 18.
Scores of
children train to become suicide bombers at a camp run by Qair Hussain in Spinkai, South Waziristan. Image courtesy of
AfPax Insider.
Hussain held a press conference at a government school building in South Waziristan five days later. During the interview,he mocked the
reports of his death. "I am alive, don't you see me?" Hussain said.
Hussain is believe to be in the running to succeed Baitullah Mehsud in the event of his death. Baitullah is suffering from complications related
to kidney disease and was rumored to have died last week. Baitullah was later seen visiting villagers to celebrate Eid in towns throughout
South Waziristan.
The Spinkai camp is one of 157 training camps and more than 400 support locations in the Taliban-controled tribal areas and in the Northwest
Frontier Province.
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/10/taliban_rebuild_chil.php
