Iraqi Soldier Killed by 13 Year-old Bomber

Multi-National Corps – Iraq
Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory
RELEASE No. 20070111-12

Multi-National Force – West PAO

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq – An Iraqi Soldier was killed by an improvised explosive device carried by a 13 year-old Iraqi boy in Anbar Province, Jan. 10.

Concurrently, insurgents using a mosque as a fighting position, fired at an adjacent outpost of the Iraqi Army 1st Division, 350 meters from the site of the bombing in the town of Khalidiyah, 15 miles northwest of Fallujah.

It is not known if the boy knew he was carrying an IED. His identity is unknown at this time.

This is the second incident where a 13 year-old was used to deliver IEDs to attack security forces in Anbar Province. On November 25, 2006, Safa Husayn’s body was found in the burned wreckage of a vehicle that drove erratically before detonating near a Marine patrol just northwest of the area of yesterday’s bombing. Killed in the attack were five Iraqi civilians and a Marine.

“To dupe children to be mules, unwitting bombers, is not how honorable men behave,” said Coalition spokesman Marine Lt. Col. Bryan Salas. “The tribes in Ramadi would never stand for this type of practice.”