21 October 2016•Update: 21 October 2016
MOSUL, Iraq
The Daesh terrorist group is using civilian hostages as "human shields" on the frontlines of the ongoing battle for Mosul, according to children who have recently fled the beleaguered city.
Children from the village of Adla south of Mosul, who claim to have recently escaped the terrorist group’s clutches, say the militants are killing anyone who tries to flee and brainwashing local children to carry out suicide attacks.
Ahmed, 15, told Anadolu Agency that he had been trained by Daesh militants in combat techniques, weapons use and bomb-planting.
"We were trained [by Daesh] in our village," Ahmed -- who gave only his first name due to fears of reprisal -- said.
"We did what we were told, fearing for our safety and for that of our families," he added.
Jassim, another young Adla resident (who did not provide his age), said the militants had trained him on how to carry out suicide attacks.
"They wanted to use us as suicide bombers in their dirty wars," he said. "They told us we would be martyrs; that after we died we would to heaven."
Daesh captured Mosul -- along with the city’s outlying villages -- in mid-2014 before overrunning large swathes of territory in the country’s northern and western regions.
On Sunday night, Iraqi forces, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, launched a much-anticipated offensive to retake the city -- Daesh’s last stronghold in northern Iraq.
Over the last five days, the terrorist group has lost numerous villages on Mosul’s outskirts, as the Iraqi army and its allies advance on the city along multiple axes.
Reportin by Ali Mukarram Garip : Writing by Mahmoud Barakat
