Children not being recruited for fighting abroad, says Muslim cleric

A leading Muslim cleric has dismissed fears that armed groups are trying to recruit children from Ireland for fighting units abroad after a Co Meath schoolboy was killed on active duty in Syria.

Dr Ali Selim of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland said 16-year-old Shamseddin Gaidan, a Libyan-born Irish citizen, was one of about 25 young Irish or Irish-based Muslims known to have joined rebel forces fighting in Arab uprisings abroad.

However, he said there was no question of an organised programme to target impressionable young people and lure them into dangerous missions overseas.