Mehsud running "Toyota-type" assembly line of child suicide bombers: Report

Washington, July 3 (ANI): The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud is virtually running an 'assembly line' of suicide bombers to wreak havoc in the troubled nation.

A report in The Washington Times quoted US officials as saying, that Mehsud is recruiting small children as young as six or seven, to serve as suicide bombers.

"Mehsud has turned suicide bombing into a production output, not unlike the way Toyota outputs cars," a US defence official said.

The price of a suicide bomber could range anything in between 500,000 rupees to one million rupees. The price depends on how quickly the bomber is needed, and how close he is expected to get to the target, the official added.

"Mehsud produces these suicide bombers, which are sold or bartered, which can be used by other groups," he said.

US President Barack Obama's key advisor, Bruce Riedel, has also expressed concerns over the TTP's methodology of luring, and some times, kidnapping children and transforming them into suicide bombs.

"Using child suicide bombers is the grim reality of the Taliban Frankenstein that now threatens to overwhelm the Pakistani state," said Riedel.

Some extremists also denounce this activity, terming it against Islam.

"Fighting is not the issue. What is unusual is making these young fighters into suicide bombers. It is a crime against God," The Daily Times quoted a former Afghan terrorist, as saying. (ANI)