IN the shadowy world of religiously motivated militancy, terrorist groups are constantly updating their tactics to cause maximum harm. However, a series of bombings in the Indonesian city of Surabaya a few days ago, in which an outfit linked to the militant Islamic State group bombed a number of churches, has thrown up a disturbing new trend: the use of families, particularly children, in acts of terrorism. While terrorism of all sorts is condemnable, the use of innocent children in such acts is particularly reprehensible. As per reports emerging from Indonesia, a number of families, apparently radicalised through a ‘study group’ with ideological links to IS, were involved in the lethal church bombings. Family members of all ages — including teenagers and minor children, some as young as nine — took part in the attacks.

While adults can and should be held responsible for their crimes, the use of innocent children in such ghastly acts of violence is truly shocking. Youngsters cannot be expected to comprehend the twisted ideological justifications adults use to carry out such abhorrent acts; in fact, involving them in militancy amounts to child abuse and murder. As it is, war and militancy in many parts of the world — the Middle East and Africa particularly — have robbed countless youngsters of their childhood and left them permanently scarred. Some children have become mere statistics, killed or maimed in the wars that rage across Syria, Iraq etc. Others have been uprooted and are living in subhuman conditions (for example, the Rohingya). However, for adults to use youngsters to carry out acts of terrorism marks a particularly cynical low. It is hoped that the Indonesian incidents do not spark copycat attacks. Moreover, counterterrorism and law-enforcement agencies must keep an eye out for this particular practice of using minors for militancy. While battling militants in the field may be the ‘easy’ part, security services must adapt themselves to spot new ‘trends’, such as the use of children in terrorism, and neutralise these methods.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2018