Militants in Syria have been using children as young as eight years of age as “human shields,” a report said.

Militants in Syria have been using children as young as eight years of age as “human shields,” a report said.

Save the Children organization reported that some young boys in Syria are “being used by armed groups as porters, runners and human shields.”

The report said one monitoring group had documented the “deaths of at least 17 children associated with armed groups” since the start of the conflict in Syria two years ago.

“Many other children in armed groups have been severely injured; some have been permanently disabled,” Save the Children stated.

Six-year-old Nidal told the organization: "Once, armed men chased us. They shot at [the three of] us and it hit the ground near my foot so I jumped. It hit below my foot and it touched my shoe but I kept running. We reached a wall and couldn't run anymore.

"I was scared, very scared. I was scared and my friends too. We were surrounded by walls."

Citing interviews conducted by Bahcesehir University, the report finds that almost one in three children has been separated from family members and that three in four children had seen the death of a loved one.