Daesh has reportedly abducted nearly 80 teachers in Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh after the instructors refused to promote the group’s heavily-distorted interpretations of religious principles in areas under their control.
A provincial source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arabic-language al-Sumaria satellite television network on Sunday that Daesh extremists kidnapped 78 educators across the province after they rejected Daesh self-proclaimed education body and its radical curriculum.
The source added that Daesh curriculum teaches children lessons on how to execute hostages, booby-trap buildings and carry out bomb attacks and other acts of terror.
On April 12, 2015, Daesh extremists stormed a number of schools in al-Qayyarah, al-Shura, Badoush and al-Baaj neighborhoods of the troubled northern Iraqi city of Mosul, located some 400 kilometers (248 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad, and kidnapped nearly 120 schoolchildren.
Sheikh Khalid Awad al-Shabani, a tribal leader in the western Iraqi province of Anbar, said last July that the group is actively trying to lure local children into its ranks as would-be bombers. He added that the group had set up training camps for children in the Syrian province of Raqqah and the district of Heet in Iraq's Anbar.
The tribal leader also said that Daesh brainwashes children in the camps and trains them how to conduct bomb attacks against military checkpoints and civilians.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in June that the group “conducts organized recruitment for children in 100 countries," adding that the "exploitation of children for murder is a heinous crime.”
Daesh launched an offensive in Iraq in June last year and took control of Mosul, the country’s second-largest city, before sweeping through parts of the country’s heartland.
Daesh has committed heinous crimes and threatened all communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians, during their advances in Iraq.
Iraqi soldiers, police units, Kurdish forces, fighters from Popular Mobilization Units and Sunni tribesmen have been engaged in joint operations to drive the militants out of the areas they have seized.
Editor's note: This article has been edited from the source material
