Kurds Thwart Suicide Blast Attempt in Iraq, Defuse Teenage Bomber’s Belt

© Kurdistan24 / YouTube

Chilling footage has emerged purporting to show Kurdish security forces defusing an explosive belt attached to a teenage suicide bomber in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

The tense moment, captured on camera, showed Kurdish law enforcers arresting a young suicide bomber in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk late Sunday, Rudaw reports.

The boy, who allegedly wore a suicide belt and was reportedly aged between 12 and 13, can be seen surrounded by several armed officers. The youngster’s hands are held by two law enforcers while another one is defusing the explosive device attached to the boy’s body.

“Security forces are now defusing the explosives belt,” Rudaw reporter commented on the operation. The arrest was also reported by Kurdish Kurdistan24 channel, with the media outlet posting the full clip of the incident on their YouTube channel.

After the suspected bomb was removed the boy was arrested by authorities and taken to a police car. Kurdish media outlets did not provide any details on where the boy planned to stage a potential attack and who was behind the action.

The incident came at a tense time: Kirkuk was hit by two suicide bombers on Sunday, Kurdistan24 reported. One of the attacks struck just meters away from the entrance to a mosque, injuring one police officer and three civilians, the outlet said. The explosive device was detonated after law enforcers shot at the perpetrator who ignored calls to be frisked before entering the religious site.

A suspected teenage suicide bomber also struck neighboring Turkey on Saturday, hitting a packed wedding ceremony in the town of Gaziantep. At least 51 people were killed, including a three-month-old infant, while nearly 70 were injured.

Turkish President Recep Erdogan called the assault a “heinous” terror act and blamed Islamic State group for the atrocity.

A report published by the Combating Terrorism Centre early this year stated that ISIS increasingly filled its ranks with child soldiers while suffering losses from the airstrikes and ground campaign against the terrorists. 

While investigating the social media accounts of jihadists the researchers found at least 89 “recorded deaths of child soldiers” between January 1 of 2015 and the end of January of this year.

“The data unambiguously suggests that the Islamic State’s mobilization of children and youth for military purposes is accelerating,” the report claimed. The paper also raised alarm bells over the rising rate of suicide attacks committed by children, who were “brainwashed” by the terrorist group.

“The rate of operations involving one or more child or youth is likewise increasing; there were three times as many suicide operations involving children and youth in January 2016 as the previous January,” the document stated.

According to the investigation half of the kids died in Iraq while at least 30 percent lost their lives during suicide attempts in Syria.

No Less Than 3 Different Groups Terrorizing Turkey

Child attacker linked to bombing

that killed 51 at Turkish wedding

By Allen Cone, UPI


More than 50 were killed and 94 injured in a bombing at a wedding in Gaziantep, about 60 miles north of the warn-torn Syrian city of Aleppo. Screenshot from Ruptly/YouTube

GAZIANTEP, Turkey, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a child between ages 12 and 14 detonated a bomb at a wedding late Saturday that killed 51 people and injured 69 others.

The use of child suicide bombers as here and in Nigeria, ought to spark a furious response from the international community. I have seen no response whatsoever after the deaths of several child suicide bombers in Nigeria, and I doubt that we will see any response here. But that is not how it should be - it should be zero tolerance for using children as suicide bombers.

See also: 2 Days - 3 Little Girls Become Human Bombs for Islamic Insanity

Erdogan said the Islamic State was behind the attack during a broadcast by NTV.

The blast occurred in the city of Gaziantep, about 60 miles north of the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo. More than 200 people were packed into a street in the district of Sahinbey for the Kurdish wedding when the explosion occurred around 11 p.m.

He said the suicide bomber also was believed to have killed two policemen in the city.

Erdogan in a statement before his television appearance said there is "no difference" between the IS, which is based in neighboring Syria, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party and Fetullah Terrorist Organization, founded by U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, state-run Anadolu Agency reported Sunday.

I don't know what a country has to do to get three different and significant groups to hate them that much, especially when it is a Muslim country and all three terrorist groups are also Muslim. Insanity reigns supreme in Islam, of that there can be little doubt.

While I am not in any way a fan of President Erdogan, I have some empathy for him and the difficult task of restoring law and order in Turkey.

He has accused Gulen of being behind the recent coup.

"Those, who cannot overcome Turkey and try to provoke people by abusing ethnic and sectarian sensitiveness will not prevail," he said.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim vowed renewed fighting against terrorist groups. "No matter what this treacherous terror organization is called, we as the people, the state and the government will pursue our determined struggle against it," he said.

The United States condemned the killing in the "strongest possible terms."

"The perpetrators of this barbaric act cynically and cowardly targeted a wedding, killing dozens and leaving scores wounded," National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement. "We stand with the people of Turkey as they defend their democracy in the face of all forms of terrorism."

Vice President Joe Biden will visit Ankara on Wednesday "to reaffirm our commitment to work together with Turkey, our valued NATO Ally and partner, to confront the scourge of terrorism," according to the statement.

Witnesses described the mayhem

"We had just walked past the wedding and offered our good wishes when we heard the blast," Ibrahim Ates, a local man, told The New York Times. "Suddenly people started running past us. When we went back to see what had happened, everyone was on the floor, and there were body parts scattered everywhere and blood splattered on the walls."

Mahmut Togrul, a lawmaker with the Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, said the the bride and groom, Besna and Nurettin Akdogan, survived the attack and are in stable condition.

"Many of the victims that died were children," he added.

Police found parts of a suicide vest in the area where the blast took place, the Gaziantep chief prosecutor's office said in a statement.

"Everyone here is devastated. We can't even carry out the funerals because the bodies are in pieces. They are struggling to identify the victims," Hilmi Karaca, a Kurdish activist who witnessed the explosion, told The New York Times.

On July 15, at least 240 people were killed in a failed coup aimed at topping the government of Erdogan.

On June 28, IS militants are suspected of storming Istanbul's main airport with guns and bombs, killing at least 44 people.