TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
They are young, armed and dangerous: IS Fighters' Generation
Change Size
A screenshot of a boy training at an Islamic State camp. (The Star/-)
They are armed and ready for action.
In one of the latest videos to emerge from the Islamic State (IS) militant group, a boy launched into a diatribe against “sinners”, speaking in a mix of Bahasa Indonesia and Arabic.
Jabbing his finger at the camera, he said all the combat preparations shown in the video were to “instigate sinners” as the wrongdoers had “changed the laws of Allah”.
He cautioned people to be ready to face their wrath, which he likened to “restrained war horses” that wanted to run down God’s enemies.
Dubbed Generasi Petempur or (Fighters’ Generation) in one clip, the IS seems to be placing children on the frontline of its terror campaign.
The militants have ensnared the youth of the Indo-Malay archipelago to wreak havoc on places they once called home.
Some reports have indicated that at least eight Malaysian children were being trained in IS camps in Syria and Iraq.
Apparently, an academy even uses Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction to indoctrinate South-East Asian students.
Authorities say they are brought to war-torn countries by their parents who migrated overseas to join IS.
In another video clip, the children were seen in classrooms, repeating after a religious teacher.
And in what looked like an informal lesson outdoors, children in camouflage fatigues raised their hands to answer questions from an adult in a red headgear about the meaning of sinners.
The minder, bearing an M4 assault rifle, called them “Princes of the Caliphate”.
The video later shifts to what appeared to be children laughing and playing.
They were actually learning how to defend themselves from punches.
Two boys were seen grappling with one another, with one forcing the other to the ground in submission.
The children also assembled with AK-47 assault rifles.
When they fell to the ground in practice, their rifles are almost as “long” as their slight frame.
In another segment, a teenager stared into the camera, his tousled hair tamed with a camel camouflage cap.
A man holding a passport beside him issued threats of attack while the other children fidgeted and shifted their feet.
They craned their necks to look at the ringleader as he spoke.
Indeed, the acts of terror that they are being trained to perform is no child’s play.
