Taliban Tells 6-Year-Old His Suicide Belt Will Spray Flowers

The Taliban told the 6-year-old street child to go “spray flowers” on the Americans.

Afghan boy Juma Gul ,6, right, has lunch with his brother Dad Gul at a joint U.S.-Afghan military command center in Andar district of Ghazni province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, June 23, 2007. The story of Juma Gul, who says he thwarted an effort by Taliban militants to trick him into carrying out a suicide bombing against U.S. troops provoked tears and anger at a weekend meeting of tribal leaders. Though the Taliban dismissed the story as propaganda, at a time when U.S. and NATO forces are under increasing criticism over civilian casualties, both Afghan tribal elders and U.S. military officers said they were convinced by his dramatic account. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

Taliban fighters fitted a 6-year-old street kid with a bomb vest and told him to go “spray flowers” at the American soldiers. But, instead he went to an Afghan checkpoint and asked the guards, “‘Hey, can you help me? Somebody gave me this jacket, and I don’t know what’s inside, but maybe something bad.”
The AP reported:

The story of a 6-year-old Afghan boy who says he thwarted an effort by Taliban militants to trick him into being a suicide bomber provoked tears and anger at a meeting of tribal leaders.

The account from Juma Gul, a dirt-caked child who collects scrap metal for money, left American soldiers dumbfounded that a youngster could be sent on such a mission. Afghan troops crowded around the boy to call him a hero.

Juma said that sometime last month, Taliban fighters forced him to wear a vest they said would spray flowers when he touched a button. He said they told him that when he saw U.S. soldiers, “throw your body at them.”

…The militants cornered Juma in a Taliban-controlled district in southern Afghanistan’s Ghazni province. Although he is but an impoverished youngster being raised by an older sister — he proved too street-smart for their plan.

“When they first put the vest on my body, I didn’t know what to think, but then I felt the bomb,” Juma told the Associated Press as he ate lamb and rice after being introduced to the elders at the joint U.S.-Afghan base in Ghazni. “After I figured out it was a bomb, I went to the Afghan soldiers for help.”

20 Afghan elders clicked their tongues in sadness and disapproval. When the boy and his brother were brought in, several of the turban-wearing men welled up with tears, wiping their eyes with handkerchiefs.

“If anybody has a heart, then how can you control yourself [before] these kids?” Mr. Deciwal said in broken English.

Wallets quickly opened, and the boys were handed $60 in American and Afghan currency — a good chunk of money in a country where teachers and police earn $70 a month.

Afghan officials described the boys as extremely poor, and Juma said he is being raised by his sister because his father works in a bakery in Pakistan and his mother does domestic work in another village.

“I think the boy is intelligent,” Mr. Deciwal said. “When he comes from the enemy, he found a checkpoint of the [Afghan National Army], and he asked the ANA: ‘Hey, can you help me? Somebody gave me this jacket, and I don’t know what’s inside, but maybe something bad.’


Afghan boy Juma Gul 6, is seen at a joint US-Afghan military command center in Andar district of Ghazni province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, June 23, 2007. (AP)
Hat Tip Miguel Down in Mexico

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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