Citizens in Al-Kout warn of kids toys hailing Islamic State
A screenshot of a video shared throughout social networks showing an Iraqi kid holding a toy gun which his father says gives out a sound recording glorifying Islamic State.
“Yesterday, I bought a toy gun for my kid from al-Atibba street in al-Kout. Switching it on, I found it gives out (a sound recording of) the phrase ‘long live Islamic State fighters’”, the man was shown as saying in the video.
The father urged local security authorities to prosecute importers of those toys, adding that he intended to “smash the toy because it promotes IS mentality and affects kids”, as he put it.
Since it emerged in 2014 to proclaim an “Islamic Caliphate” on Iraqi soil, Islamic State has run a media body that actively marketed the extremist group’s extremist ideology. It has also notoriously drafted young children within its combat forces, and imposed school curricula that sought to imbue minors with its ideologies. Some children were even tasked with carrying out heinous executions of security agents and violators of the group’s extreme religious rules.
IS is currently losing ground and personnel in its fight against Iraqi government forces which have been running a major operation in Mosul to drive the group out of its biggest urban stronghold.