ISIS has posted a chilling video of a young boy appearing to execute two of the extremist group’s prisoners. Released by the Al-Hayat Media centre, a propaganda arm of ISIS, the video purportedly shows the boy killing two alleged Russian spies with a handgun.
The boy is accompanied by an adult ISIS fighter, who credits the group’s own security and intelligence with capturing the men, accused of being informants for the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (known as FSB).
ISIS, also known as the Islamic State, refers to its young recruits, who are often elementary school-aged, as lion cubs.
The young boy then uses the handgun to shoot the alleged spies from behind, as they kneel on the ground.
According to Foreign Policy, the boy is originally from Kazakhstan, and appeared in a previous ISIS video depicting the training of child soldiers.
READ MORE: Is the world ready to deal with a generation of ISIS child soldiers?
That video, titled Race Towards Good, portrayed several foreign children learning Arabic, being indoctrinated and demonstrating their weaponry skills.
The boy, apparently seen in both videos, identified himself as “Abdullah” and said he was from Kazakhstan.
There are an estimated 300 Kazakhs who have travelled to Islamic State territory to join the ranks of its fighters, Foreign Policy reported.
Tuesday’s video is one of several ISIS has posted online showing children involved in ISIS combat training or activities. A video released Monday showed scenes from a purported training camp in Tal’Afar, near Mosul, Iraq, where children learned martial arts and weapons skills.
Dr. Shelley Whitman, in a November interview with Global News, said, these videos demonstrate how ISIS is preparing for “a multi-generational war.”
READ MORE: New ISIS video shows training of child soldiers in Iraq (Nov. 24)
“There are some elements that are not all that different than us taking our kids to learn martial arts. … I could see kids looking at that and thinking that that’s pretty cool, that they look a bit like they’re making them into little ninjas,” Whitman, the executive director of the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative at Dalhousie University, said at the time.
A United Nations panel, investigating war crimes in Syria, previously reported ISIS “prioritizes children as a vehicle for ensuring long-term loyalty, adherence to their ideology and a cadre of devoted fighters that will see violence as a way of life.”
Who are the victims of the apparent execution?
The men purportedly executed in the video are identified as 38-year-old Jambulat Yesenjanovich Mamayev, who said he was born in Kazakhstan, and 29-year-old Sergey Nikolayavich Ashimov.
Both men admitted they were spies for Russia and the video suggested they infiltrated ISIS to collect intelligence.
Mamayev said he was sent to “Sham” (Syria) to gather information about Russian foreign fighters to feed back to FSB.
READ MORE: U.S. military command’s online accounts hacked, show pro-ISIS messages
Mamayev added he was also under orders to “get close to” an unidentified ISIS militant — the individual’s name is censored —and extract information from a laptop the militant used in Turkey.
Turkey has been a hub for foreign fighters travelling to Iraq and Syria.
Meantime, the man identified as Ashimov said he “worked for 8 months in the Russian Intelligence against the Muslims” before travelling to Syria to collect information on foreign fighters. But according to his confession, Ashimov was also tasked with tracking down an ISIS leader and “to kill him.”
He goes on to say he “was a Muslim before this” but became an apostate by handing over “brothers” to Russian intelligence.
“I direct my message to those who want to come here and spy, I say to them, repent to Allah now before it’s too late.”
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