This phenomenon is nothing new in Iraq, Afghanistan or the Palestinian territories. But it needs to be highlighted because it shows just how depraved and evil the jihadists are. Then again, if you somehow didn't grasp that fact by now - and believe me, there are many who don't - then, sadly, this story probably won't have much of an effect on you either way:
BAGHDAD - Al-Qaeda is using children as suicide bombers in Iraq, with at least two attacks in the past week committed by 15-year-olds, a US military commander claimed on Sunday.
"We are not sure whether one of these children even knew he was being used to deliver a bomb," Rear Admiral Gregory Smith told a news conference in Baghdad.
One attack was carried out at a funeral ceremony near Tikrit, executed dictator Saddam Hussein's home town 180 kilometres north of Baghdad and the other was at a school in the northern city of Mosul, Smith said.
He gave no details of the two bombings. Iraqi police said 17 people died in a January 21 suicide blast at the funeral ceremony near Tikrit for relatives of an Iraqi police colonel.
"Al-Qaeda in Iraq is trying to brainwash children with hate and death... they seek to create a culture of violence, hate and despair," said Smith.
"(They) are sending 15-year-old boys on suicide missions to spread death and helplessness."
Perhaps this is a sign of just how desperate al-Qaeda in Iraq is right now, with adults in nearly every part of the country turning against the group.