Officials cut off an explosive belt from the boy suicide bomber in Iraq. (Kurdistan 24 TV news via AP)
Just a day after 51 people were killed in an attack by a child suicide bomber in southeastern Turkey, Iraqi police say they have apprehended a boy would-be suicide bomber in the city of Kirkuk before he was able to detonate his explosives belt.
Disturbing images by local media showed a young boy, around 12 years old, being stripped of explosives by Iraqi forces in Kirkuk, close to the capital Baghdad. The child is seen crying and traumatised as he is taken away by the security officers.
Security personnel later defused the explosive, said local news reports.
Media reports suggested that the boy was from Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq which was previously a stronghold of the ISIS but now under strong attack by the US led coalition.
The ISIS has been pushed back in many parts of Iraq and Syria and is hitting back by using children and women in carrying out deadly attacks.
A report by Combating Terrorism Centre has stated that at least 89 child soldiers had died since 2015, adding that this was on the increase since the airstrikes on ISIS strongholds had gone up.
A recent UNICEF report also said that thousands of children are being abducted in Iraq, while thousands of others are at extraordinary risk due to the war and many more are fleeing the war in West Asia unaccompanied.
In the groups propaganda videos, young children are shown with weapons, undergoing extreme training and even allegedly carrying out executions.
Several videos to rope in young kids call them "cubs of the caliphate".