ISIS chops off hands of 2 kids for refusing order to kill captives

Two child soldiers of the Islamic State (ISIS) bravely dared to refuse a direct order from their superiors for them to carry out the execution of two civilian captives. The punishment for disobedience could be considered "lenient" in ISIS terms – the two lose only their hands, not their heads, reports Christiantoday citing the Iraqi news agency.

In a report released on Thursday, Iraqi News said "members of the Islamic State terrorist group amputated the hands of two children for refusing to carry out the execution sentence on two civilians in front of their families."

Citing a local source, the Iraqi online news outlet said the two children who were severely punished were aged 10 and 12 years old. They were part of a group of children based in ISIS camps in Nineveh, Iraq, the report said.

ISIS has released a video showing children and pensioners being forced to carry out executions of prisoners. In December 2016, an apprehended would-be suicide bomber described how the ISIS leadership is training children to fill the group's depleted ranks as their fighters come under relentless attacks from Iraqi and other coalition forces.

The 15-year-old Iraqi boy named Mahmoud Ahmed had second thoughts in carrying out a suicide mission in Kirkuk, Iraq in August last year. Ahmed confessed that he was one of dozens of other children who were being indoctrinated in jihadist doctrine and trained as young warriors.

Kurdish intelligence officials said there are thousands of other children across Iraq and Syria who are being trained by ISIS to fight and carry out suicide attacks. Some of the children are as young as nine years old. ISIS is using child soldiers because they are harder to detect by enemy forces and because they are also easily duped.