LOWER DIR, PAKISTAN – A lot of terrorists can rightly be described as bottom-dwellers but some go even further down than that.
No matter where you stand on wars, or insurgencies, or even terrorism there is one thing I hope we can agree on: children are off limits. Kids are not involved in these phenomena, at least not the real young ones (Islamic State – ISIS – did have a youth programme they called ‘Cubs of the Caliphate’ but those were older), and thus cannot be seen as willing participants.
Side note: we often use the term ‘women and children‘ but this is not always accurate. Many women do elect to join terrorist groups – ISIS is a GREAT example – and must therefore be seen as responsible for their actions. This is why I am adamant that when it comes to the women and children languishing in camps in northern Syria/Iraq after having fled the crumbling ‘Caliphate’ we should move heaven and earth to bring the latter back to their home nations (referring of course to the ‘foreign fighters‘) but allow local authorities to try the former based on their laws since their crimes were committed there.
What then do we think of terrorist groups that deliberately TARGET young children for death and injuries? Not much I’d imagine.
On this day in 2009
Eleven children — six boys and five girls of a family — were killed and three others suffered injuries when a home-made bomb exploded in a village in Pakistan’s Lower Dir region. The children were playing with the bomb as they mistook it for a toy: it had been planted near the wall of a girls’ school in the village.
It is unclear whether it was a deliberate act of terrorism or an accident, as the region is littered with unexploded ordnance abandoned by mujahideen fighters during their 1980s war against Soviet troops in neighbouring Afghanistan”
local police official Saeed Zaman
Whether it was the Soviets or, perhaps more likely, the Pakistani Taliban, it does not matter. Making bombs to resemble toys is not just wrong: it is evil.
Read More Today in Terrorism
May 31, 1906: Spanish anarchist bombs royal wedding
On May 31, 1906 a Spanish anarchist threw a bomb hoping to hit King Alfonso XIII, killing 24 and wounding more than 100.
May 30, 2009: Anti-government group bombs TV station in Ecuador
On May 30, 2009 two pamphlet-bombs exploded outside an Ecuadorian TV station and ministry: no victims or significant damage ensued.
May 29, 2016: ISIS uses chlorine gas in terrorist attack
On May 29, 2016 35 civilians were wounded in an ISIS attack using rockets containing chlorine gas in Iraq’s Nineveh Province.
