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Child Bombs
Iraqi insurgents reported to use children as bomb shields
Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, some in the west still insist that Iraq's "insurgents" are heroic resistance fighters, rather than bloodthirsty sectarian killers.
Perhaps the mess that is Iraq creates a confusing fog of war; perhaps hatred of America is so strong that attacks on mosques and markets are forgiven if the eventual, distant aim is to drive the US out. But even those who see Sunni guerillas as latter-day maquis will be horrified by the lastest reports from Iraq, which claim that extremists are using children to smuggle bombs through checkpoints - and blowing the vehicles up with the children inside.
The reports published in The Guardian come from US military sources, so they are not likely to be uncontroversial. However, the Guardian is not known as a mouthpiece for the Pentagon.
The reports claim that last weekend, a car loaded with two children was waved through a checkpoint in one of Baghdad's Shia neighbourhoods. Soldiers manning checkpoints often wave vehicles carrying children through. Two men left the car, which exploded with the children inside. Both died, along with three bystanders.
It is the first time such a tactic has been used, though Iraqi police say three times last year children were travelling in cars loaded with bombs. The children escaped each time.
US and Iraqi sources are concerned that insurgents are upping the stakes with ever more horrific tactics as a response to the "security crackdown" which began six weeks ago.
