Baghdad: The Islamic State is using the main church in the northern Iraqi town of Tel Kaif as its military headquarters.

The IS was training its child recruits or so-called ‘Cubs of the Caliphate’ at the Sacred Heart church, which is now called ‘Abu-Talha Al-Ansari’, broadcaster Rudaw said.

The group chose the church as its military headquarters as it knew coalition warplanes would not bomb the building and has been bringing children there secretly from its beleaguered capital Mosul.

‘They were taking kids to mosque to pledge allegiance to the caliphate. Then they brought them to this church for training, before taking them to the battlefield,’ Rudaw quoted a Tel Kaif resident as saying.

‘Most trainees were kids,’ the resident added.