ISIS could be training kids as young as 9, Dutch intel chief warns

Children as young as 9 are being tracked as the next potential jihadists, a Dutch intelligence official warned Monday.

Rob Bertholee, the head of intelligence for the Netherlands, said authorities identified 70 minors out of a group of around 250 Dutch citizens who left the country to wage jihad in the Middle East, NBC News reports.

When asked about his country’s decision to include children 9 and older on the terror list, Bertholee responded, "We cannot rule out any scenarios.”

The Netherlands’ General Intelligence and Security Service said in January that a third of Dutch children in Syria and Iraq had been born there, suggesting that those who fled the Netherlands struck up relationships with militants after arriving, Newsweek reports.

The service said women in ISIS territory are “expected to marry and have children as soon as possible.”