ISIS jihadists 'selling, crucifying and burying children alive'

oge okonkwo

February 5, 2015 5:49 PM

The children, who are often from the Yazidi sect or Christian communities, but also Shi'ites and Sunnis, are being tortured and murdered

ISIS militants are selling abducted Iraqi children at markets as sex slaves, using them as suicide bombers and killing others by crucifixion or burying them alive, a watchdog has said.

The children, who are often from the Yazidi sect or Christian communities, but also Shi'ites and Sunnis, are being tortured and murdered, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child has said.

A report released on Wednesday revealed a host of horrifying outcomes for the children kidnapped by the Islamic militants, including boys under-18 being used as bomb makers, informants or human shields to protect facilities against U.S.-led airstrikes.

Girls are being sold as sex slaves, while children - often with learning difficulties - are being used as suicide bombers.

Others are simply being murdered, the report says.

'We are really deeply concerned at torture and murder of those children, especially those belonging to minorities, but not only from minorities,' committee expert Renate Winter said.

'The scope of the problem is huge.'

The U.N. body, which reviewed Iraq's record for the first time since 1998, denounced 'the systematic killing of children belonging to religious and ethnic minorities by the so-called ISIL [ISIS]'.

This included 'several cases of mass executions of boys, as well as reports of beheadings, crucifixions of children and burying children alive'.

oge okonkwo