Police arrested two ten-year-old “would-be bombers” in southern Afghanistan, officials said Sunday, months after President Hamid Karzai pardoned them over a similar incident.
“The two ten-year old would-be bombers were arrested along with three other militants last week, while planning an attack on Afghan and international forces in Kandahar”, Zalmai Ayubi the provincial spokesman told AFP.
The children had two vests full of explosives when they were arrested, he added.
They had previously been arrested by security forces when both were wearing explosive vests. They were reportedly released along with 18 other children last August after the Afghan President pardoned them and sent them home.
The two boys had gone to Pakistan after they were released but were sent back to Afghanistan after being trained to conduct suicide attacks.
“They told me I would be safe after conducting a suicide attack,” one the boys Azizullah was quoted in a statement sent by Kandahar media office.
Ten years after being overthrown by US forces in response to the airborne Al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington, Taliban insurgents have shown a ruthless resilience to the West’s military might.
Taliban militants have reportedly used children and teenagers to conduct attacks on security forces.
