has thrown focus on a new initiative to recruit children into the security services. Alireza Jafari's mother Sadaf Monfared told the municipality-run newspaper Hamshahri that the pair had been helping Basij volunteer militia patrols and checkpoints to "maintain the security of Tehran and its people" when they were killed on 11 March. Last week, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) official in Tehran told the IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency that the organisation would enrol "volunteers" aged 12 and above. Eyewitnesses have told the BBC they have seen children, including some armed, in security roles in the capital and other cities. Foreign-based human rights organisations have also reported Alireza's death. The Kurdish group Hengaw said he was a "fifth-grade student" who was killed while present at a checkpoint in Tehran. Alireza's mother said her husband had told her there were not enough personnel at the checkpoint, with "only four people" present. She said he took Alireza with him and said that the boy needed to be "ready for the days ahead". She quoted her son as saying: "Mum, either we win this war or we become martyrs. God willing, we will win, but I would like to become a martyr." Hamshahri newspaper said they were hit by an "Israeli drone strike". (BBC)