Not content with sowing terror by releasing gruesome footage of executions of prisoners, the Islamic State is now using children as accomplices in their deplorable acts.
According to the Daily Mail, in the latest video depicting the execution of eight Shiite men, child soldiers were seen leading the prisoners to their deaths.
In the video, the children served as assistants in the execution, handing over the prisoners to the adult ISIS members, handing them their knives and and standing watch. At some points in the video, some of the children were even seen smiling as they performed their tasks.
As soon as the prisoners were in the hands of the executioners, they were forced to their knees and beheaded as one of the killers labelled them "impure infidels" in front of the camera.
Unlike their adult counterparts, the children's faces were not covered in the videos.
In early March, the group also released a video of a 12 year old boy shooting Mohammad Ismail, a man whom the group suspected to be an Israeli spy, an accusation that the Israeli government has denied.
The video strengthened suspicion that the group is intensifying its recruitment of youngsters to their crusade.
The ISIS has reportedly held screenings of their propaganda videos, including the execution of Jordanian pilot Muadh al-Kasasbeh in Syria, that have been attended by children.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that around 400 children have been recruited by ISIS as members of the "Cubs of the Caliphate" since the beginning of the year.
"They use children because it is easy to brainwash them. They can build these children into what they want, they stop them from going to school and send them to IS schools instead," Rami Abdulrahman, head of the British-based Observatory said in an interview.
