The Malta Independent 25 April 2024, Thursday
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Watch: Boy wearing suicide vest beneath Messi shirt stopped in Iraq

Tuesday, 23 August 2016, 08:10 Last update: about 9 years ago

A young boy carrying a suicide vest in Kirkuk, north of Baghdad, claims he was kidnapped by armed ISIS terrorists who strapped on a suicide vest and ordered him to attack. 

TV footage of the dramatic incident shows Iraqi security forces disarm the young boy, who was aged around 12, before bundling him into a truck, the Daily Mail reports. 

The incident happened one hour after another suicide bomber targeted a Shiite mosque in the city.  

Kirkuk intelligence official Chato Fadhil Humadi said the boy in the latest incident 'claimed during interrogation that he had been kidnapped by masked men who put the explosives on him and sent him to the area'.

The boy had earlier fled Mosul, Iraq's second city, which is still under ISIS control although government troops are trying to force out the terrorists.   

The boy, who was wearing a Barcelona football shirt with FIFA World Player of the Year Lionel Messi on the back, reportedly burst into tears as he was detained by Iraqi police in the city of Kirkuk, north of Baghdad, yesterday.

His arrest came less than 24 hours after another child suicide bomber killed at least 51 people and injured 100 more at a wedding party in Turkey.

It has led to fears children are increasingly being used by ISIS to carry out deadly attacks. Two other suicide bombers blew themselves up in Kirkuk on Sunday. 

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