A United Nations watchdog said that Islamic State (IS) militants are selling kidnapped Iraqi children at markets as sex slaves and murdering others using barbaric methods like crucifixion or burying them alive.
According to News 24, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said that Iraqi boys aged under 18 are increasingly being used by the militant group as suicide bombers, bomb makers, informants or human shields to protect facilities against US-led air strikes.
Speaking at a news briefing, committee expert Renate Winter said that the UN was deeply concerned at torture and murder of those children, especially those belonging to minorities.
Winter said that the scope of the problem was huge, adding that children belonging to the Yazidi and Christian communities, and also Shi'ites and Sunnis, have been the victims of IS torture and incessant killings.
She said that the organization had come across reports that suggested that children as young as eight years were being trained to become child soldiers, and how mentally challenged children were being used as suicide bombers.