Kazakh Child Soldier Executes ‘Russian Spies’ in Islamic State Video

I

n a video released Tuesday

by the Islamic State, two

men described as Russian agents

testify that they had attempted

to spy on the militants, infiltrate

their computer networks, and

assassinate the group’s leaders.

Then a long-haired young boy

calmly shoots the men in the

back of the head with a

handgun.

The first alleged Russian agent is

identified as Jambulat

Mamayev. He says that he is

from Kazakhstan and that he

was sent to gather information

on the Islamic State and get

close to a high-ranking member

within the group. The second

man, Sergey Ashimov, tells his

captors that he previously

worked for the Russian FSB, the

successor to the KGB, and was

sent to kill an Islamic State

leader, whose name is muted in

the video.

The child who carries out the

execution appears to be the

same child featured in a

November 2014 Islamic State

propaganda video. In that video,

which also showcased the

group’s new adult recruits from

Kazakhstan, the boy identifies

himself as “Abdullah” and

speaks predominantly in the

Kazakh language.

The high quality propaganda

film shows the religious and

military training that children

living in the Islamic State

undergo. According to the video,

that education begins by

learning Arabic and studying

the Quran in the classroom.

Students then graduate to

learning hand-to-hand combat

and weapons training. The

youngsters are shown

assembling and firing

Kalashnikov rifles.

Asked in Kazakh how he sees

himself in the future, Abdullah,

says, “I will be the one who

slaughters you, O kuffar [non-

believer]. I will be a mujahid,

insha’allah.”

In Tuesday’s video, Abdullah

appears to have realized his

ambition.

The use of children of war is not

new, but the Islamic State has

assembled a stunningly

elaborate and sophisticated

system for recruiting and

indoctrinating children. A June

2014 Human Rights Watch

report found that non-state

armed groups in Syria have

used children as young as 15 to

fight in battles, and children as

young as 14 in military support

roles. According to the report,

the Islamic State has targeted

children for recruitment and

used the guise of free schooling

to plant their extremist ideology

in the minds of youngsters.

The Kazakh government has not

yet responded to Tuesday’s

video, but the authorities did

move quickly to remove the

November 2014 video.

Kazakhstan has tough domestic

legislation that outlaws

spreading what is deemed as

“extremist propaganda,” and the

Kazakh authorities even moved

to pressure the news-site

Kloop.kg in neighboring

Kyrgyzstan to remove an article

the publication had posted

about the video.

Kazakhstan’s National Security

Committee estimates that 300

Kazakh citizens have traveled to

Syria to join the Islamic State. At

least half of those are estimated

to be women and children. In an

interview in December 2014,

Erlan Idrissov, Kazakhstan’s

minister of foreign affairs, told

Foreign Policy that one of the

government’s biggest worries is

“the rise of violent extremism in

Kazakhstan and the region” and

how “these schools of thought

have spread throughout the

population.”

The video ends, chillingly, with

the men’s young executioner

holding his hand up in triumph

before stepping over the corpses

and walking away. Idrissov and

other Kazakh officials have

reason to worry about what will

happen when he or his fellow

child soldiers begin returning

home.