(The Economist) – WHEN Omar returned home after 40 days in a boot camp run by Islamic State, it was obvious something had snapped. Once a quiet boy and a fan of SpongeBob SquarePants cartoons, Omar, 12, had become aggressive. He told his mother to stop wearing make-up, refused to greet her female friends and became angry when she tried to bathe him. “I was scared to wear a T-shirt inside my own house,” his mother, Amina, says. “He told me these things were forbidden under Islam. They washed his brain.”
What to do with Islamic State’s child soldiers
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