SANLIURFA, Turkey (AP) — The children had all been shown videos of beheadings and told by their trainers with the Islamic State group that they would perform one someday. First, they had to practice technique. The more than 120 boys were each given a doll and a sword and told, cut off its head.

A 14-year-old who was among the boys, all abducted from Iraq's Yazidi religious minority, said he couldn't cut it right. He chopped once, twice, three times.

"Then they taught me how to hold the sword, and they told me how to hit. They told me it was the head of the infidels," the boy, renamed Yahya by his IS captors, told The Associated Press last week in northern Iraq, where he fled after escaping the IS training camp.

When Islamic State extremists overran Yazidi towns in northern Iraq last year, they butchered older men and enslaved many of the women and girls. Dozens of young Yazidi boys like Yahya had a different fate: The IS sought to re-educate them. They forced them to convert to Islam from their ancient faith and tried to turn them into jihadi fighters.

It is part of a concerted effort by the extremists to build a new generation of militants, according to AP interviews with residents who fled or still live under IS in Syria and Iraq. The group is recruiting teens and children using gifts, threats and brainwashing. Boys have been turned into killers and suicide bombers. An IS video issued last week showed a boy beheading a Syrian soldier under an adult militant's supervision. Last month, a video showed 25 children unflinchingly shooting 25 captured Syrian soldiers in the head.

In schools and mosques, militants infuse children with extremist doctrine, often turning them against their own parents. Fighters in the street befriend children with toys. IS training camps churn out the Ashbal, Arabic for "lion cubs," child fighters for the "caliphate" that IS declared across its territory. The caliphate is a historic form of Islamic rule that the group claims to be reviving with its own radical interpretation, though the vast majority of Muslims reject its claims.

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In this April 19, 2015 picture, young Syrians attend a class of religious lessons at an Islamic teac …

"I am terribly worried about future generations," said Abu Hafs Naqshabandi, a Syrian sheikh who runs religion classes for refugees in the Turkish city of Sanliurfa to counter IS ideology.

The indoctrination mainly targets Sunni Muslim children. In IS-held towns, militants show young people videos at street booths. They hold outdoor events for children, distributing soft drinks and candy — and propaganda.

They tell adults, "We have given up on you, we care about the new generation," said an anti-IS activist who fled the Syrian city of Raqqa, the extremists' de facto capital. He spoke on condition of anonymity to preserve the safety of relatives under IS rule.

With the Yazidis, whom IS considers heretics ripe for slaughter, the group sought to take another community's youth, erase their past and replace it with radicalism.

Yahya, his little brother, their mother and hundreds of Yazidis were captured when IS seized the Iraqi town of Sulagh in August. They were taken to Raqqa, where the brothers and other Yazidi boys aged 8 to 15 were put in the Farouq training camp. They were given Muslim Arabic names to replace their Kurdish names. Yahya asked that AP not use his real name for his and his family's safety.

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In this photo released on April 25, 2015 by a militant website, which has been verified and is consi …

He spent nearly five months there, training eight to 10 hours a day, including exercises, weapons drills and Quranic studies. They told him Yazidis are "dirty" and should be killed, he said. They showed him how to shoot someone from close range. The boys hit each other in some exercises. Yahya punched his 10-year-old brother, knocking out a tooth.

The trainer "said if I didn't do it, he'd shoot me," Yahya said. "They ... told us it would make us tougher. They beat us everywhere."

In an IS video of Farouq camp, boys in camouflage do calisthenics and shout slogans. An IS fighter says the boys have studied jihad so "in the coming days God Almighty can put them in the front lines to battle the infidels."

Videos from other camps show boys crawling under barbed wire and practicing shooting. One kid lies on the ground and fires a machine gun; he's so small the recoil bounces his entire body back a few inches. Boys undergoing endurance training stand unmoving as a trainer hits their heads with a pole.

IS claims to have hundreds of such camps. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented at least 1,100 Syrian children under 16 who joined IS this year. At least 52 were killed in fighting, including eight suicide bombers, it said.

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In this photo released on Jan. 14, 2015, by a militant website, which has been verified and is consi …

Yahya escaped in early March. Fighters left the camp to carry out an attack, and as remaining guards slept he and his brother slipped away, he said. He urged a friend to come too, but he refused, saying he was a Muslim now and liked Islam.

Yahya's mother was in a house nearby with other abducted Yazidis — he had occasionally been allowed to visit her. So he and his brother went there. They travelled to the Syrian city of Minbaj and stayed with a Russian IS fighter, Yahya said. He contacted an uncle in Iraq, who negotiated to pay the Russian for the two boys and their mother. A deal struck, they met the uncle in Turkey then went to the Iraqi Kurdish city of Dohuk.

Now in Dohuk, Yahya and his brother spend much of their time watching TV. They appear outgoing and social. But traces of their ordeal show. When his uncle handed Yahya a pistol, the boy deftly assembled and loaded it.

And he will never forget the videos of beheadings IS trainers showed the boys.

"I was scared when I saw that," he said. "I knew I wouldn't be able to behead someone like that. Even as an adult."

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Jannsen reported from Dohuk, Iraq. Associated Press writers Salar Salim in Irbil, Iraq, and Vivian Salama in Eski Mosul, Iraq, contributed to this report.

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Follow Zeina Karam on Twitter at www.twitter.com/zkaram. Follow Bram Janssen on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BramJanssen .

STONEWALL, Miss. (AP) — Hundreds of people gathered Sunday night at a baseball park in a small Mississippi town to remember a black man who died after a physical encounter with a white police officer and to call for action.

The crowd repeatedly shouted "No justice, no peace!" Lawrence Kirskey, president of the Clarke County NAACP, suggested they boycott local businesses because of lack of action in the death of 39-year-old Jonathan Sanders.

Sanders died after crossing paths with part-time Stonewall police officer Kevin Herrington, 25, late July 8. Sanders had been riding in a two-wheeled buggy pulled by a horse.

What happened that night is intensely disputed, and is being investigated by the FBI and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.

Lawyers for Sanders' family and for witnesses say Herrington attacked without provocation after the two saw each other at a convenience store a mile across town. C.J. Lawrence, who represents three witnesses, said Sanders was doing nothing illegal and didn't resist while Herrington choked him to death.

But Herrington's attorney, Bill Ready Jr., said Sanders had what appeared to be illegal drugs and grabbed the officer's gun during a struggle.

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Frances Sanders, mother of Jonathan Sanders, hugs his sister Nicole Holloway, as she calls for justi …

Neither Sanders' mother nor his sister spoke at the rally. But Kayla Clark and Charita Kennedy, the mothers of Sanders' 9-month-old son and 1-year-old daughter, thanked the crowd and asked town residents to keep supporting the family.

About 200 people from this town of 1,100 near the Alabama line attended the rally, avoiding the dozens of fire ant hills that dotted the park. Another 100 or so joined from parking lots across the street or after parking on neighborhood streets, and marched about a mile to the police station.

Herrington is on unpaid leave and left town on a family trip, Ready said. Sanders' survivors buried him Saturday.

Authorities are asking for calm while they finish investigating. But there were already two protests last weekend.

Attorneys for Sanders' family paint his death as part of a larger nationwide struggle over police brutality against black men, and they see it as part of the unfinished civil rights movement in Stonewall, a town named after Confederate general Stonewall Jackson.

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People attend a remembrance and rally for Jonathan Sanders in Stonewall, Miss., Sunday, July 19, 201 …

Chokwe Antar Lumumba, the Sanders family lawyer, said authorities told relatives that an autopsy found he died from "manual asphyxiation" — strangulation. He said the manner of death was homicide, not accidental.

A spokesman for MBI said the agency doesn't discuss ongoing investigations.

The autopsy finding doesn't necessarily mean Herrington committed a crime and accounts so far leave unanswered questions: What triggered the encounter? Was Herrington using necessary force, or was Sanders the victim of an overly aggressive officer?

And at a time when police departments are under intense scrutiny for treatment of black suspects, did race play a factor?

Stonewall doesn't have cameras in police cars or on officers, putting the focus on witnesses. Clarke County Sheriff Todd Kemp said one witness is Rachel Williams, a jail guard in neighboring Lauderdale County.

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Dennis Evans bows his head in prayer during a remembrance and rally for Jonathan Sanders in Stonewal …

Lawrence, the witnesses' attorney and Lumumba's law partner, won't confirm her name, or describe the others, except to say they are related and also distantly related to Sanders by marriage. Lawrence said the witnesses sought lawyers because they fear for their safety.

Also present at the time of the death was Herrington's wife, Kasey Herrington, who was riding that night in his police car.

The lawyers for the witnesses relayed their accounts to The Associated Press but said they did not want to talk directly with reporters: The witnesses say Herrington drove up behind Sanders and flashed his blue lights, making the horse rear. Sanders fell off the buggy and chased the horse, while Herrington ran up and grabbed Sanders by the strap of a headlamp he was wearing that had fallen around his neck. They say Sanders fell to the ground in a fetal position, trying to relieve pressure on his neck but otherwise not resisting, while Herrington lay atop him and put him in a chokehold.

The attorneys said one witness went outside and pleaded with Herrington to release Sanders. He refused until his wife retrieved his gun. Then Herrington directed his wife to radio for backup. When Herrington finally released Sanders, witnesses say he was unconscious, with blood coming out of his mouth.

Ready, on the other hand, said a struggle began after Herrington found Sanders with drugs and Sanders tried to run.

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Hundreds march to the Stonewall police station after a remembrance and rally for Jonathan Sanders in …

"It is my understanding that Mr. Sanders fought back and actually grabbed the officer's gun," Ready said.

He also said that Sanders outweighed Herrington, making it hard for the officer to subdue Sanders. He said Herrington did not intend to harm or kill Sanders.

"This was just an unfortunate result of an encounter between him and Mr. Sanders," Ready said.

State investigators have so far only described what happened as a physical "altercation."

Lawrence said his witnesses deny Herrington found drugs, or that Sanders grabbed the officer's gun. He and Lumumba say Kasey Herrington retrieved the gun from her husband's holster while he restrained Sanders.

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C.J. Lawrence, an attorney for the family Jonathan Sanders' family, calls upon a crowd for unity …

Sanders has a history of drug troubles. He was convicted in December 2003 for selling cocaine and went to prison until May 2007. He was arrested again in April for allegedly possessing cocaine. A lawyer who was representing Sanders said authorities were trying to seize his Chevy Tahoe and some cash. Ready noted that if Sanders had drugs, his bond on the earlier charge could have been revoked and he would have had to stay in jail until the charges were resolved.

Herrington has been described as both an excellent police officer and a "Rambo" who held a grudge.

He graduated from a police academy in nearby Meridian in December 2013. Until last week, he was working occasional shifts in Stonewall and two nights a week in neighboring Enterprise. Ready said he also has a full time job as industrial worker, but wouldn't be more specific.

Enterprise Police Chief Joey Moulds said Herrington is a conscientious officer who kept on good terms with people — even after he'd written them citations.

Moulds said there were few complaints about Herrington and said he was very non-confrontational.

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Lawrence Kirksey, president of the Clark County NAACP, speaks during a remembrance and rally for Jon …

"I would have to put him at the top of the list. He's the most humble person I know of, extremely humble, extremely responsible," Moulds said.

But Eddie Crosby, who lives near Enterprise, thinks otherwise. Crosby said Herrington pulled him over multiple times this year to the point where Crosby felt Herrington was harassing him. He wrote a complaint to Moulds and the mayor and complained in a letter published in April by a local newspaper. He didn't include Herrington's name — describing the officer only as a "Rambo" type — but confirms he was referring to Herrington.

Afterward, Crosby said Herrington would flash his police lights at him and recently ticketed him for rolling through a stop sign.

"If he got it in for you he was going to have you," Crosby said. "I could understand the first time but you just don't stop somebody and make up an excuse."

Friends of Sanders describe him as a horse-lover who made a living buying, training and selling the animals. He lived next to his mother on a wooded side-road. Clifton Follins, the neighbor, said Sanders's two children didn't live with him but frequently visited.

"Ever since he's been big enough, he loved those horses," said Follins, 69.

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AP Photographer Rogelio Solis contributed to this report.

Tensions in Miss. town over horse trainer's death

Jonathan Sanders died after a physical encounter with a part-time police officer in Stonewall.
Accounts leave unanswered questions

Jerusalem (AFP) - Palestinians from a "Hamas military network" that allegedly killed an Israeli in the occupied West Bank last month have been arrested, the Shin Bet internal security service said Sunday.

It named seven Palestinians suspected of organising and carrying out the June 29 West Bank shooting in which Malachi Rosenfeld was killed and three others in a car with him were wounded.

Four suspects were being held by Israel, while Ahmad Najjar, a Hamas militant freed in a 2011 prisoner swap for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, orchestrated and funded the attack from Jordan where he still is, a Shin Bet statement said.

Two more suspects, including Maath Hammad who allegedly pulled the trigger, were being held by the Palestinian Authority but questioned by the Shin Bet, it said.

Six members of the group were from the town of Silwad northeast of Ramallah. The seventh, the father-in-law of one of the suspects and not identified as a Hamas member, lives in nearby Kusra, the agency said.

Rosenfeld, 25, was shot while returning from a basketball game to the Kochav Hashahar settlement where he lived.

Shin Bet said the same group of suspects also shot at an ambulance and other Israeli vehicles two days earlier without causing any casualties, and had also planned another attack that did not take place.

Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon praised the security forces for apprehending the suspects, while accusing Turkey of hosting a senior Hamas leader actively planning attacks.

Attempts to activate Hamas cells in the West Bank originate in "Hamas headquarters in Gaza and Istanbul, from where Salah Aruri plans severe attacks against us by proxies in the West Bank and in neighbouring countries," he said in a statement.

"Salah Aruri is acting from Turkey -- a NATO member, which at the same time allows a terror base on its territory," Yaalon charged.

Rosenfeld's killing took place during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which saw an increase in Palestinian violence in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Another Israeli, Danny Gonen, was shot dead in the West Bank on June 19.

The Shin Bet said the suspect in that case, whose arrest was announced last week, belonged to an armed group linked to Fatah, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's party.