Groups use children as weapons, putting them on front lines
The suicide attacker who detonated his explosives amid an outdoor Kurdish wedding party in Turkey, killing at least 54 people, was an Islamic State group child as young as 12 years old. The group has a history of using children as weapons, sending them to their death strapped with explosives and putting them on front lines in Iraq and Syria.
The group maintains an army of child soldiers, which it calls "cubs of the caliphate", and seeks to re-educate children at IS-run schools, indoctrinating them with the group's own radical version of Islam and exposing them to violent acts, including beheadings, as part of a concerted effort to build a new generation of militants. IS videos have shown boys killing IS opponents through beheadings and shootings.
But the practice is not restricted to the IS and has been used by other militant groups. Here's a look at some:
