Taliban dupe 12-year-old into carrying bomb
LAHORE: For a Rs 50 bill, Ishaq Khan, a 12-year-old schoolboy was asked to carry a bag to a busy bazaar in Kohat. As he proceeded, the bag exploded, throwing him to the ground, shattering one of his feet and leaving shoppers dead and injured all around him.
Under a new strategy, the Taliban have begun paying children to plant lethal bombs across Pakistan, a report in The Sunday Times said.
Ishaq, who hails from a family that barely survives on the money his father earns painting houses, worked at the Orakzai bus stop to earn a few rupees a day by helping people to load buses. Two weeks ago a man approached him and offered him the money to leave the blue plastic bag in a crowded area between several shops.
I was excited to get 50 rupees, Ishaq said. Thats more than I earn the whole week, he told the paper. Pocketing the money, he proceeded to place the bag, thinking of ways to spend the bounty.
Posted by: Steve White 2009-06-15 |