'Isis child suicide bomber' stripped of explosive belt before attack in Iraq

Footage has emerged purportedly showing the arrest of an Isis boy suicide bomber, thought to be as young as 12 years old.

Video of the arrest shows Iraqi security forces removing a suicide bomb vest from the young boy.

The boy, aged between 12 and 13, appeared to burst into tears as he was captured by police in Kirkuk, Iraq, on Sunday.

The explosives vest was later detonated in a controlled explosion.

It is currently unclear whether the boy wanted to carry out the attack himself or was forced into it by the jihadi group.

Hours earlier, a suicide bomber blew himself up in front of a Shia shrine in Kirkuk, injuring three people.

The attack followed another suicide bombing in the same neighbourhood that caused no casualties. 

“There is a dangerous campaign tonight against Kirkuk,” a security official told Kurdish news agency Rudaw.

On Saturday, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said an Isis child suicide bomber as young as 12 was behind an attack on a Kurdish wedding which killed at least 51 people.

At least 22 of the victims were under the age of 14, a government official said.

Isis has deployed child suicide bombers to stage attacks in both Iraq and Syria.

Among the most deadly attacks was a bombing at a youth football match at a stadium south of Baghdad on 25 March, 2016.

The bomber — believed be a teenager — detonated his explosives as officials were handing out trophies to players after the tournament, killing 29 and wounding 60.

Isis claimed responsibility and released a photo of the attacker in which he appears to be no more than 16 years old.

Nearly half of those killed were also children, participating in the game or cheering from the stands.

The UN's children's agency, UNICEF, said in a recent report that thousands of children have been abducted in Iraq.

Girls, the group says, are at greatest risk of being sold into sexual slavery while boys are often forced into becoming combatants or suicide bombers.