PAKISTAN: Security officials say young suicide bombers raise stakes in war on militancy

Record ID: 356358

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Security officials say young suicide bombers raise stakes in war on militancy
  • Date: 12th February 2011
  • Summary: MARDAN, PAKISTAN (FEBRUARY 11, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC ON ROAD VARIOUS OF VENDORS PUSHING CARTS ON ROAD MARDAN, PAKISTAN (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (FEBRUARY 10, 2011) (REUTERS) PARAMILITARY SOLDIERS STANDING GUARD OUTSIDE MILITARY HOSPITAL AMBULANCES PASSING BY SIGNBOARD OF 'COMBINED MILITARY HOSPITAL, MARDAN CANTT' MILITARY SOLDIERS PATROLLING MILITARY AMBULANC
  • Embargoed: 27th February 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan, Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA4EQJ95OFOPS0Y3NX766PLPEOG
  • Story Text: A boy who killed 31 army cadets in Mardan on Thursday (February 10) probably had all the characteristics that make Pakistan's young suicide bombers so dangerous, local police say.
    They say such youngsters are thoroughly committed, poor, disciplined and hard to detect.
    Police officials are running DNA tests on what is left of the young holy warrior's legs and scalp to determine his background and age, but they suspect he could be about 12 or 15.
    Pakistan, a strategic U.S. ally, faces ruthless and cunning Taliban militants determined to destabilise the government. Young suicide bombers are one of their most chilling weapons.
    "If incidents like that happen, for example in this incident a student was used, he was not a student, I mean he was clad in the school uniform and we are still investigating into that regarding his identity. But of course the implications are wider now, because we have to look for that aspect as well," said Zeeshan Khan, a senior police official in Mardan.
    A psychiatrist who has treated young boys that militants tried to recruit says the young suicide bomber was probably inducted into a madrassa, or religious school, for the last five to 10 years.
    The Mardan bomber was probably pretending to be student on his way to class at a school located in the military compound.
    To get a uniform, all he had to do was walk through the bustle of the main market, past fish vendors, restaurants and electronics shops, and purchase the outfit at a shop.
    "We are in the middle of a war against terrorism, and these suicide attacks are happening all the time, and our forces and our police, many of our men have laid their lives for that. And of course we are alarmed, and we have beefed up our security and we certainly plan to beef up our security more so that we can avert such sort of happenings," Khan said.
    Experts say poverty is one of the main factors that drive children to such acts.
    Many parents can't afford to send their children to good schools. So they are enrolled in extremist religious seminaries that first began churning out youngsters eager for jihad in the 1980s, to help the Afghan mujahideen fight Soviet occupation.
    They are instilled with the discipline of a soldier in the schools, known as madrassas, and guided by shrewd clerics who persuade them they are on a glorious path to heaven.
    Analysts say until the government offers impoverished Pakistanis a brighter future, the cycle that leads some young people to blow themselves up won't let up.
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