LONDON – A British supporter of Islamic State was found guilty on Friday oftrying to recruit children he was teaching into an “army” of jihadists tohelp carry out a wave of attacks across London.
Umar Haque, 25, showed the children beheading videos and other violentmilitant propaganda, forced them to re-enact deadly attacks on the Britishcapital and made them role-play attacking police officers.
“His plan was to create an army of children to assist with multipleterrorist attacks throughout London,” said Dean Haydon, head of theMetropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command. “He tried and he did, webelieve, radicalize vulnerable children from the ages of 11 to 14.”
Despite having no qualifications and being employed as an administrator,police say Haque used the guise of teaching Islamic studies to groom 110children into becoming militants at the Lantern of Knowledge, a smallprivate Islamic school, and at a madrassa connected to the Ripple RoadMosque in east London.
Of those children, 35 are now undergoing long-term safeguarding measuresinvolving social services and other authorities.
Six of the group gave evidence at Haque’s trial, detailing how he taughtthem fighting was good and had given them training such as doing push-upsto build their strength. – Agencies