More than 300 children — some of them as young as 5 years old — have reportedly joined terror training camps in Syria run by the Islamic State (ISIS), according to images posted this week on the Internet.
The
anti-jihadist website "Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently" posted images showing the children brandishing semi-automatic assault rifles, running obstacle courses and posing next to the ISIS flag,
The Daily Express reports.
The "Raqqa" group regularly goes undercover to document jihadist life, according to the Express.
The camps are at the al-Sharea school in Raqqa, Syria, where children are "repeatedly asked whether they want to be a young jihadist or suicide bomber," the Express reports.
"Boys between the ages of 5 and 18 are forced to repeat calls for the murder of Western 'infidels,'" according to the report.
ISIS militants apparently kidnap the children or buy them from their vulnerable families, members of the anti-terrorist group told the Express.
Some of the children have helped battle Kurdish forces in the Syrian border city of Kobani, where the U.S.-led coalition has increased its airstrikes in recent weeks, the Express reports.