Terrorism
Would-Be Suicide Bomber, 14, Explains Why
Posted May 27, 2008, 01:46 pm CDT
By Martha Neil
After his first (and only) four months of schooling, at an Islamic madrassa in Pakistan, Shauker Ullah was ready, at 14, to pursue what religious leaders reportedly told him was his true vocation in life: Becoming a suicide bomber.
He didn't know how to drive a car or read a book, but he was willing to blow himself up because clerics said he wouldn't die in the attack, only the foreign targets, he tells the Chicago Tribune.
Arrested, allegedly in an explosives-laden car, before any attack occurred, Ullah is but one of many examples of teens recruited by extremists, the newspaper reports.
"It is easy to bend the mind of a child, particularly those whose families have been affected in the violence," explains Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, a spokesman for the Pakistani army who says children as young as 9 are being persuaded to conduct such attacks. "They become prey."
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