BAGHDAD

Six teenage boys allegedly being trained as suicide bombers were detained yesterday in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said the boys were aged 14 to 16 and were being trained by a Saudi militant who was killed in military operations.

The soldiers were acting on tips when they found the boys in the basement of an abandoned house used by insurgents in the Sumar area of the city, said deputy Interior Minister Kamal Ali Hussein.

He said the boys had been recruited in the past month to carry out suicide attacks on Iraqi forces, though their targets had not been revealed.

Mosul is believed to be the network's last urban stronghold, prompting US and Iraqi forces to launch a crackdown earlier this month.

The insurgents had threatened to kill the boys or their families if they refused to obey, Kamal said.

"They were trained how to carry out suicide attacks with explosive belts and a date was fixed for each one of them," he said.

The arrests underscored claims by US and Iraqi commanders that al Qaeda is increasingly trying to use women and children to avoid heightened security.

AP