- Title: IS curriculum found in Mosul school teaches jihad, caliphate - Iraqi forces
- Date: 17th November 2016
- Summary: MOSUL, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 16, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF A STREET IN THE ARBAJIA NEIGHBOURHOOD OF EASTERN MOSUL COUNTER TERRORISM SERVICE (CTS) SOLDIERS WALKING THROUGH A STREET CTS SOLDIERS WALKING INTO A SCHOOL IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD / AUDIO OF GUNFIRE SIGN THAT READS (Arabic): "ARBAJIA SCHOOL FOR GIRLS" / AUDIO OF GUNFIRE VARIOUS OF CTS SOLDIER CARRYING AN RPG / OTHERS SOLDIERS WALKING IN THE SCHOOL COURTYARD CLASSROOM IN THE SCHOOL SOLDIER INSPECTING DESKS IN A CLASSROOM CTS SOLDIERS IN THE CLASSROOM VARIOUS OF CTS COMMANDER, MAJOR AHMED, HOLDING UP SCHOOL BOOKS USED BY ISLAMIC STATE MILITANTS VARIOUS OF A PICTURE OF A RIFLE IN THE A MATHEMATICS BOOK MAJOR AHMED HOLDING UP A GEOGRAPHY BOOK GEOGRAPHY BOOK COVER MAJOR AHMED FLIPPING THROUGH THE BOOK INTERIOR OF A BOOK WITH THE WORDS (Arabic): "BELT, ROCKET, JUST, SHOOT" (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) COMMANDER OF THE COUNTER TERRORISM SERVICE (CTS), MAJOR AHMED, SAYING: "This is the curriculum used by Daesh (Islamic State) to teach children between the first and sixth grades. They want to imprint on these children's minds the ideas of jihad, of crooked jihad. The jihad which means killing your brothers, killing your fellow countrymen, killing those who believe in a different ideology or religion." INTERIOR OF A BOOK WITH THE WORDS (Arabic): "SERMON, BAGHDADI, CALIPHATE" / MORE PAGES CHILDREN HOLDING UP VICTORY SIGNS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) YOUNG RESIDENT OF ARBAJIA NEIGHBOURHOOD, MAHMOUD, SAYING: "They would teach us about bullets and how to slaughter and kill others. They would ask us to add, dead body plus dead body, bullet plus bullet. They would teach us how to slaughter, these things." SOLDIER LOOKING AT ISLAMIC STATE DOCUMENTS ISLAMIC STATE DOCUMENTS SOLDIERS LOOKING THROUGH DOCUMENTS
- Embargoed: 2nd December 2016 08:09
- Keywords: Iraq Mosul Islamic State military school curriculum
- Location: MOSUL, IRAQ
- City: MOSUL, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA00158U0RBB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Empty classrooms in the recently recaptured Iraqi neighbourhood of Arbajia contained remnants of the two-year Islamic State rule in Mosul.
Books and documents found on Wednesday (November 16) in an elementary school in Arbajia, the eastern district of the city, reflected the jihadists' widespread attempts to spread their ideology to the children of the area.
The books included many pictures of rifles and weapons, and taught children how to spell out words like Caliphate, Baghdadi and rockets.
"This is the curriculum used by Daesh (Islamic State) to teach children between the first and sixth grades. They want to imprint on these children's minds the ideas of jihad, of crooked jihad. The jihad which means killing your brothers, killing your fellow countrymen, killing those who believe in a different ideology or religion," said Major Ahmed of the elite Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (CTS).
One of the children who went to school in the neighbourhood recalled the odd instructions they were given by militants.
"They would teach us about bullets and how to slaughter and kill others. They would ask us to add, dead body plus dead body, bullet plus bullet. They would teach us how to slaughter, these things," said Mahmoud.
CTS troops searched the school for Improvised Explosive Devises (IEDs) or booby traps planted by the militants.
The forces had faced fierce resistance from the militants over several days, who launched waves of suicide bombers, sniper attacks and ambushes.
The CTS special forces spearheading the advance into Mosul are part of a 100,000-strong force of army, security forces, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and mainly Shi'ite "Popular Mobilisation" forces aiming to drive Islamic State from the largest city under their control in Iraq or Syria.
The operation, which enters its fifth week on Monday (November 14), is the most complex in Iraq in over a decade and is complicated by the presence of the more than one million civilians still living under Islamic State control. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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