Sickening pictures of a young boy re-enacting the execution of American journalist James Foley have been posted online, provoking widespread outrage.
The images follow the “photo that shocked the world” — the image of jihadist Khlaed Sharrouf’s son holding a severed head — which was described by US Secretary of State John Kerry as “stomach turning.”
The photos show a young boy dressed in a hood carrying a knife holding a doll dressed in orange clothes, similar to those worn by Foley when he was beheaded on camera.
A second image shows the beheaded doll — now bloodied around the neck — with the Islamic State insignia in the background.
The Daily Mail reported that the photos were posted to the Time of the Caliphate Twitter account with the message “Teach your children to cut necks, tomorrow there will be a lot of rotten heads.”
The images have revived concern about the radicalisation of children by Islamic militants — a process dubbed a “form of child abuse” by the outspoken mayor of London, Boris Johnson.
The UK’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond described Foley’s killing by a man speaking with an English accent as an “utter betrayal of our country.”
The radicalization of young Muslims was the subject of a recent documentary by Vice News.
Median Dairieh’s film features young boys talking on camera about their hopes to kill infidels.
One IS militant who appears on the film says: “God willing, this generation will fight infidels and apostates, the Americans and their allies. For us we believe that this generation of children is the generation of the caliphate.”