Price of child suicide bomber in Pak: Rs 5-25 lakh

Islamabad: Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said the terrorists are paying huge amounts of money to buy children to use them as suicide bombers.

"The terrorists are using children for their barbarous terrorist activities and a suicide bomber is paid Rs 5 to 25 lakh from terrorist outfits," Mr Malik said while speaking at a ceremony in Islamabad on Monday.

He said the government is determined to continue the war against terrorism until the Taliban are flushed out of the country.

Terrorists are targeting innocent people and they have no link with Islam as they have tarnished the image of Islam and Pakistan, he added.

"Anti-state elements are buying children and making them suicide bombers," he said. He added, terrorists were using civilians as human shield.

"We had two options. (We could) either to surrender before the terrorists or fight with them. Now terrorists are on the run in Swat, Dir and Buner," the Pakistan Interior Minister added.

He warned the terrorists to lay down their arms or risk getting killed.

The minister said the government has decided to increase the police strength. He added that 20,000 more personnel would be recruited in the capital police to overcome the force shortage.

Malik said the Chinese government would provide security equipment to the tune of $280 million to Pakistan for capacity building of the law enforcement agencies. He said the Chinese government has made this commitment during his recent visit to that country.

The Pakistan minister said gadgets would include vehicular scanners, mobile scanners and other items required for security purposes. He added different donors have pledged to give an amount of 65 million dollar for capacity building and improvement in the police department.

He stated that weapons and ammunition were being supplied to terrorists from Afghanistan and the government of Pakistan had taken up this matter with the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai.