Jihadi groups 'lure' kids for suicide bombers

ISLAMABAD: Jihadi groups in Pakistan's Dir district in the North West Frontier Province are 'luring' school children to become suicide bombers, prompting some parents to send their wards outside the area for their education, a media report said on Sunday.

Hashim Hussain, opposition leader in the district assembly, took up the issue on the floor of the house a few days ago, demanding that the administration should stop jihadi organisations from ruining children's future.

"I asked the assembly members if participation in jihad at such an early age guarantees a place in paradise ... no one responded to my question," he was quoted as saying by Daily Times.

Hussain claimed the children were not given military training but "only given a suicide jacket to blow themselves up in public places".

A man whose son was taken away from school and later found with a jihadi organisation has enrolled his kid in a school in another district, relatives of the boy said.

The father said he was taking his son hundreds of miles away from the influence of the extremist groups.

Ten school children have been reported "missing" from a school in the district. Local policemen said they are investigating the cases.