A former child soldier told a war crimes hearing today how he was snatched off the street and sent to a military camp.

CHILDREN snatched from Congo streets were trained to kill and forced to fight in a brutal ethnic war, the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor said yesterday as the tribunal opened its historic first trial.

Children as young as nine were snatched from the streets and trained to kill by Congo warlord Thomas Lubanga, the International Criminal Court’s historic first trial heard today..

Warlord Thomas Lubanga calmly pleaded not guilty to exploiting hundreds of child soldiers “to kill, pillage and rape” as his trial finally began at the International Criminal Court today