Do child jihadis still get 72 virgins when they blow themselves up?

Via Magharebia:

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is changing its strategy to target children at an early age to lure them to its radical ideology.

To do this, the group is using new methods deemed to be more capable of attracting children’s attention such as video games that include a clear strategy to show the group’s ability to win wars against international forces.

On March 26th, telquel-online.com published a picture from a jihadist forum showing a video game designed by AQIM.

The game has a military aircraft carrying AQIM’s black flag while hitting and destroying French aircraft in the Sahara where battles are raging against the terrorists in northern Mali.

The website said that the game, “Muslim Mali”, displays the message “Congratulations, you have become martyrs!” in lieu of “Game Over” when a player loses all their lives.

Journalist Abi Ould Zidan visited Timbuktu while the radical groups were controlling it last year.

“Children usually represent significant numbers of recruits at training camps in Timbuktu,” he told Magharebia.

Citing Ansar al-Din spokesperson Sanad Ould Bouamama, he added that the group justified the recruitment of children based on a certain religious interpretation of some hadiths.