The Islamic State militant group in Iraq and Syria have announced the killing of its youngest fighter, a child soldier named al-Abu Ubaidah al-Absi.
The announcement was first made by the twitter handle called 'Islamic State Times', the account of which has since been suspended.
"Abu Ubaidah, the youngest fighter in the Islamic State got martyred with his father by US airstrikes 2 weeks ago," it said, with a collage of photographs showing the 10-year-old clad in a military dress with one picture showing him holding a gun, while another one showing him wearing a bullet-proof jacket.
Supporters of the deadly Sunni hardliner organisation said on social networking sites that Abu Ubaida is a child from the United Arab Emirates, who was fighting with ISIS in Syria, the Iraqi News notes. He, along with his father, was killed in a coalition air strike led by the United States last month.
He was reportedly killed along with his father – who is known as Baghdadi (just like the organization's leader) -- by airstrikes two weeks ago. One of the photos posted on twitter shows the father standing next to Ubaidah with his arm around his shoulders as the two pose for the camera.
The photographs of the boy that was posted Islamic State Times's twitter handle, has not been officially verified, reports New York Post. Although the twitter account was suspended immediately after the post, screen shot of the tweet, along with the photographs still continue to spread in Twitter.
One of the most disturbing photos was one taken before his death, in which he is standing inside a house while brandishing a giant machine gun, which looks bigger than his entire body. But he still manages to have a firm grip on the weapon and smile for the picture.
