After the Pakistani army launched an operation to clear them from the Swat valley, Taliban went from house to house demanding a boy or young man from each family for grooming them as suicide bombers, media reported today.
Propaganda films obtained by The Sunday Telegraph in Peshawar, show boys of 14 or 15 recording farewell messages before climbing into vehicles filled with explosives.
The report said suicide bombings were extremely rare in Pakistan but have increased dramatically since the Taliban took control of Swat in the aftermath of a bungled government offensive against extremists in 2007.
One film that Pakistanis have been watching with horrified fascination showed a boy of about 15, named in the video as Arshad Ali from Swat, who attacked a polling station after the Taliban banned voting last year.
Sitting with an AK-47 cradled in his lap and fiddling with prayer beads, he said the people of Swat are living in evil times and that sacrifice is called for.
"Some hypocrites say that we are doing this for money - or because of brainwashing - but we are told by Allah to target these pagans," he was quoted as saying.
Films also show gruesome "trials" and beheadings of alleged spies and captured policemen, whippings of criminals, the aftermath of attacks by guerrillas, and scenes of young jihadis in training camps.
Another boy, looking younger than Arshad Ali, told the Camera: "If I die, do not cry for men. I will be in Heaven waiting for you." Soon afterwards he killed himself in an attack in which dozens of security personnel died or were wounded.
Mulla Fazululla, one of the Taliban leaders in Swat, who is also known as Mulla Radio for his liking for broadcasting, said, "I am so proud that our boys use their flesh and bones as a weapon for Islam."
On one of the videos, he said: "A lot of people have given us everything for jihad, their homes, their money, their children too."
According to the report, a telephone intercept of Muslim Khan, a Taliban spokesman in Swat, was released in which he urged attacks on the families of soldiers. "Strikes should be carried out on their homes so their kids get killed and then they'll realise," he was quoted as saying.
The report said hundreds of terrorists are feared to be hiding among the 2.4 million refugees who left the Swat valley.
Police have so far arrested more than 30 suspected Taliban in refugee camps, but there was concern that many more may have used the chaos to slip into Pakistan's cities. Fears of suicide bombers striking crowds are running so high in Peshawar that gatherings of more than 10 people have been banned, the report said.
