Terrorism and Children

Terrorism in any form cannot be condoned and terrorism with children at the heart of its attack is unspeakable offense. Unfortunately, this is not the first time children has been used a means to strike fear in an effort to spread pandominium across the world.

 

1. Beslan School Seige : Ingush and Chechen militant separarists attacked School Number One in Beslan, North Ossetia in 2004. They choose to attack on September 1 which was the first day of school and packed with children and parents.

 

They held more than 1,000 people including 777 children hostage for three days, opening fire when their booby-traps began to explode and the Russian security forces attempted to retake the building.

 

In all, at least 385 people were killed, including 156 children. The youngest was two years old.

 

2. Utoye Attack : Anders Breivik bombed government buildings in Oslo and then attacked a Labour Party youth camp on the Norwegian island of Utoye, as a protest against immigration, particularly by Muslims.

 

Of his 77 victims, 69 of them on Utoye, 55 were teenagers, the youngest being 14.

 

3. Yazidi Massacre : The biggest single loss of children to a terrorist attack may have been suffered by the Yazidi community in northern Iraq, who have again been heavily targeted by the jihadists of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant this year.

 

Four co-ordinated bombings by Isil’s predecessor, Al-Qaeda in Iraq, in two Yazidi towns in August 2007 were later estimated to have killed 796 people, by far the worst single incident of the post-invasion civil war.

 

A large proportion of the dead are thought to have been women and children. However, the remoteness of the area, the prevalence of violence, and the isolation of the Yazidi community meant no full list of victims was ever published.

 

4. Pakistan School Massacre : Pakistan Taliban claimed the responsibility for killing 132 children in Peshwar's Amry Public School and Degree College.

 

Seven terrorist attacked and killed 141 people including 132 children including the school Principal Tahira Qazi and another female teacher was burnt alive in front of the children.

 

This is the worst attack in the world involving children after the Beslan bloodbath.

 

The youngest victim from known reports is 12 years old.