London: Even as US Defence Secretary Ash Carter laid out broad plans on Thursday to defeat Islamic State militants and retake the group's key power centers in Iraq and Syria, a report said that up to 400 abducted Yazidi children were reportedly being trained as potential suicide bombers by the dreaded terror group.
As per a report in The Independent, Kurdish authorities had evidence of 600 children being kidnapped from Iraq's Sinjar province and the surrounding Yazidi villages.
The Daily said that the authorities had told CNN that 200 children had managed to escape.
The Daily also said that the news channel had reported about fears of ISIS using the children to bolster its numbers.
Also that the militant group was using child soldiers to plug gaps in sentry positions plus its suicide bomb squads.
The youngest boy in the camp is reportedly just five years old and is called 'cubs of the caliphate' by the trainers.
Yazidis are said to be a small monotheistic religious group.
They live mostly in Iraq and believe that one God created the world.
The ISIS regards them as devil worshippers and have carried out atrocities against them in order to eradicate the sect.
Meanwhile, speaking to troops from the 101st Airborne Division who will soon deploy to Iraq, Carter also said he would meet in Paris next week with his defence counterparts, mainly from Europe, and will challenge them to bring more capabilities to the fight.
"Each of these nations has a significant stake in completing the destruction of this evil organization, and we must include all of the capabilities they can bring to the field," he said.
Carter's broader message signaled the completion of a military plan to help Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces retake Mosul in northern Iraq and to assist the Syrian moderate forces oust Islamic State militants from their headquarters in Raqqa.
This week airstrikes hit an Islamic State cash center in Mosul.
His remarks came a day after US President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech, expanding on the message that the US must build and work with local forces in Iraq and Syria to have lasting success.
(With Agency inputs)
