In the news:
Originally published February 12, 2012 at 6:44 PM | Page modified February 12, 2012 at 6:55 PM
Two boys with suicide vests are arrested in Afghanistan
The boys were described by officials as 12-year-olds who had been trained in Pakistani madrassas.
The New York Times
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Two boys equipped with suicide vests were arrested here over the weekend, less than a year after one of them had been pardoned by President Hamid Karzai for the same crime. Both were presented to reporters Sunday.
The boys, named Nasibullah and Azizullah, were described by officials from the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan's intelligence agency, as 12-year-olds who had been trained in Pakistani madrassas. The officials refused to give their names for security reasons.
Both boys appeared calm and outspoken at the news conference, and it was unclear if they understood the gravity of what it would mean to carry out suicide bombings.
Azizullah said he went to a madrassa in Quetta. The teachers told him, "'You won't be hurt; just go and carry out a suicide attack,' " he said.
There have been a number of children caught in the past two years with the intention of carrying out suicide attacks. Most have attended madrassa across the border in Pakistan and told to detonate the explosives near foreign soldiers or Afghan government security forces. The indoctrination is intense, with heavy pressure at the schools to engage in a holy war against the foreigners, said the intelligence officials in Kandahar.
Azizullah said that from the school, he was ferried across the border. He was arrested with a suicide vest in Kandahar, he said.
"Now I am requesting the government to forgive me and let me join my family. I won't go back to the madrassa," said Azizullah, who is from Gardez in Paktia province.
The other boy, Nasibullah, already has been forgiven once. He said he was pardoned by Karzai during Ramadan last summer, but then returned to a madrassa in Pakistan where he was persuaded for a second time to carry out a suicide bombing.
Karzai follows the tradition of pardoning criminals during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, and in 2011 he pardoned a dozen children who had been arrested either for planning or attempting suicide attacks. The children were mostly under the age of 12 and one was only 8, according to Afghan and foreign news reports.
