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  • Wednesday, 10 February 2010
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US Military: Children Being Used to Carry Out Iraq Attacks

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The U.S. military says insurgents are increasingly using children to carry out attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces.

The military issued a statement Saturday documenting at least five incidents in the last month in which Iraqi teenagers targeted troops in northern Iraq.  Some of the attacks involve young people who threw grenades at security forces, others involve suicide bombings.

U.S. military officials condemn the involvement of young people, saying "to endanger children with acts of terrorism is despicable."  They say insurgents recruit children to carry out attacks because of the reduced scrutiny young people encounter from security officials.

Friday, U.S. military officials said a grenade attack killed an American soldier the day before in Diyala province, north of Baghdad.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.