Entitled 'Race Towards Good', the video was produced by the terror
group's main media branch, Al Hayat Media Center. The dialogue in the video
interchanges between Kazakh and Arabic, with three sets of subtitles including
English.
The high quality film opens with a slow motion sequence of two lines of
armed Kazakh adult fighters jogging along in the desert. In between the two
lines, a lone fighter wearing
All of the fighters are wearing matching grey camouflage uniforms, with
the exception of the leader of the group who is wearing a black tunic.
The video claims: 'Meet some of our newest brothers from the land of
Kazakhstan. They responded to the crusader aggression with their hijrah and
raced to prepare themselves and their children, knowing very well that their
final return is to Allah.'
One of the Kazakh fighters said: 'These brothers made hijrah recently
and they're now in training camp. They are preparing themselves to fight the
kuffar (non-believers) and the mushrikin (polytheists) who are spreading their
kufr and shirk, and to fight the tawaghit (sinners) in their various forms.'
The propaganda video shows a group of new adult ISIS recruits from
Kazakhstan training in an assault courses and receiving specialist sniper
training. Ranging in age, the adults are also shown in a classroom being taught
about the firing range for different sniper rifles - including weapons from the
United States.
The video states that 'soon they will be ready to join the army of the
Islamic State' before shockingly revealing the role of Kazakh children in ISIS.
The video shows the youngsters shouting God is Great in Arabic.
The video states: 'They begin their days in search of knowledge in the
schools of the Islamic State where they are taught to hold firmly to this
creed. This is coupled with a resolve forged in the midst of worldwide crusader
aggression, which together form the ultimate base for raising tomorrow's
mujahidin (fighters).'
The young boys are shown catching the bus to their religious school. One
of the boys mimics pointing a rifle towards the camera whilst others recite
ISIS slogans.
The boys are then shown being taught the ISIS radical interpretation of
Sharia'h law in a classroom. A Kazakh cleric is shown sitting in the classroom,
where he tells the camera what it means to be a Kazakh in the Islamic State.
'We spent our childhood far away from this blessing. We were raised on the
methodology of atheism, and Allah's refuge is sought.'
He goes on to denounce the West, claiming 'the kuffar poisoned our
minds.' He insists 'Our children are happy. They're living in the shade of the
Qur'an and Sunnah.'
After showing the Kazakh boys being taught to interpret the Qur'an and
learn how to read and write Arabic, the children are shown undertaking military
training.
The boys are shown sitting in a group and are all wearing matching
camouflage fatigues. One of the boys shows off his ability to strip apart and
reassemble a machine gun whilst the other boys watch on with little
interest.
The scene is narrated by an interview with the children's Arabic
teacher, who claims: 'They will move on to do physical and military training
until they get older and pound the thrones of the tawaghit. With Allah's
permission, they are the next generation. They are the ones who will shake the
earth and spread this precious deen (religion) to all regions of the earth.'
One of the Kazakh children, who gives his name as Abdullah, is asked in
an interview what he is doing. The boy replies: 'I'm training in a camp.' When
quizzed about what he will do in the future, Abdullah chillingly declares with
a smile: 'I will be the one who slaughters you, O kuffar (non-believer). I will
be a mujahid, insha'allah (God willing.)'
The boy is then shown as part of the Kazakh boys brigade sitting as a
group. A toddler, wearing a balaclava is seen tottering nearby, carrying a mock
machine gun and wearing military fatigues. One of the older boys leads a prayer
before proclaiming the group's message: 'We're going to kill you, O kuffar.
Insha'allah we'll slaughter you.'
The final scene shows the boys jogging with their
rifles along a road like the adult fighters at the beginning of the video. The
video's final statement reads: 'These youth are honoured with being the future
flag bearers of Islam.'
It is thought that at least 300 Kazakh nationals
have travelled to Syria and joined Islamic State, according to the National
Security Committee of Kazakhstan. Nurtai Aykayev, chairman of the committee,
wrote in a report that 150 of the 300 Kazakh nationals, who had joined Islamic
State, were women.
Dr Andreas Krieg, Assistant Professor at the
Department of Defence Studies in Kings College London said Kazakhstan was not a
target area for ISIS.
He said: 'They are currently concentrating on Iraq,
Syria, Libya and Yemen. Although recently Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi recently said he
was looking to franchise the organisation in different Muslim countries.
'Teaching the foreign fighters Arabic is very
important to them as they want to be able to win hearts and minds of the people
in their core target areas. The reason they are training children, is the same
reason the like of Hamas have been training children for the past 20 years. It
is to indoctrinate them and create the next generation of fighter.'
Dr Krieg said the reason young men from Kazakhstan
were willing to join ISIS is similar to those prompting British people to
travel to Syria and Iraq.
'Kazakhstan is a reasonably stable country. These
men, like those in Britain and other western countries are disenfranchised by
the society they live in. They are very susceptible to the ISIS
narrative.'
Meanwhile, ISIS has murdered 25 members of a Sunni
Muslim tribe in the Anbar province in Iraq.
The bodies were discovered by members of the Iraqi
army on the eastern edge of the Iraqi provincial capital Ramadi. Local
officials believe the men were murdered because they opposed the ISIS incursion
into their territory.
Hathal Al-Fahdawi, a member of the Anbar Provincial
Council, said the bodies of the men, who are from the Albu Fahd tribe, were
discovered after the Iraqi army launched a counter-offensive against
ISIS.
He said: 'While they were combing the territories
they are liberating, security forces found 25 corpses in the Shujariya
area
Albu Fahd tribal leader Sheikh Rafie al-Fahdawi
said at least 25 bodies had been found and said he expected the total to be
significantly higher. He said the bodies were found scattered around with no
signs of weapons next to them, suggesting they were not killed during fighting.
Last month ISIS killed hundreds of members of the
Albu Nimr tribe in Anbar in an attempt to break local resistance to their
advances in the Sunni Muslim province they have largely controlled for nearly a
year.
ISIS, which has seized control of large parts of
Syria and Iraq, continues to gain territory in Anbar despite three months of
U.S.-led air strikes launched against the group.
On Friday it launched coordinated attacks in
central and outlying areas of Ramadi in an attempt to take full control over a
city which is already mostly in its hands.
The road from Ramadi to the military airbase of
Habbaniya, about 15 miles to the east, remained under ISIS control on Saturday,
Hathal Fahdawi said, preventing the army from reinforcing security forces in
the city.
He said tribal fighters backed by army tanks were
trying to secure the road to allow forces through from Habbaniya.
The ISIS lightning offensive through northern Iraq
in June plunged the country into its gravest security crisis since the U.S.-led
overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, and raised concerns that its radical
ideology will spread.
In northern Iraq, a farmer near the city of Mosul
discovered around 60 bodies believed to be those of prisoners killed by Islamic
State fighters when they overran the city's Badush prison on June 10, witnesses
said on Saturday.
The bodies were found after heavy rain disturbed
their mass grave. The United Nations said up to 670 prisoners from Badush were
killed by Islamic state five months ago.
Alajazeera
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