BAGHDAD , Iraq ( CNN ) -- The U.S. military said disturbing video that shows masked boys brandishing guns was an al Qaeda in Iraq training and recruiting tool . The U.S. says this image of young boys is from an al Qaeda in Iraq training and recruitment video . `` Al Qaeda in Iraq wants to poison the next generation of Iraqis , '' said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith during a Baghdad news conference about the release of the tape . The video , he said , showed boys , `` many below age 11 '' being used `` to produce the next generation of al Qaeda . '' Masked boys are seen in the tape armed with grenade launchers , AK-47s and pistols . They 're standing in front of a black banner hung on a wall , shouting slogans . Another video shows a boy , surrounded by automatic weapons and wearing a suicide vest , according to The Associated Press . Also in the video , armed boys in black hoods , with weapons pointed , shout and force a man off his bicycle , search a car , and clear a building while a male voice off camera instructs them . Smith said the military does n't know how many children al Qaeda in Iraq uses in its operations . He said it 's believed the boys in the video were willing participants . Watch the disturbing video » . `` Al Qaeda often refers to the children as the new generation of the mujahedeen , '' Smith said , using the Arabic term for holy warriors . `` We 've also seen evidence of al Qaeda entering schools , disseminating propaganda and no doubt terrorizing the children and their teachers . '' The video indicates that al Qaeda in Iraq was increasingly targeting children and posting propaganda on some of the 5,000 al Qaeda-affiliated Web sites . The U.S. military said the video excerpts were culled from five propaganda videos obtained during a raid targeting a senior member of al Qaeda in Iraq in December in Diyala province . In Baghdad on Wednesday , roadside bombings in south-central Iraq killed seven people and wounded nine others , Iraq 's Interior Ministry said . A roadside bomb targeting police killed four people and wounded nine others in the south-central Iraqi provincial capital of Diwaniya on Wednesday morning , an Interior Ministry official told CNN . The city is the provincial seat of the largely Shiite Qadisiya province . Police were transporting prisoners at the time of the attack . The four killed , two women , a child and a man , were civilian passers-by . Four civilians , three detainees , and two police officers were wounded . A roadside bomb exploded midmorning in central Baghdad 's Andalus Square , killing three civilians , according to the ministry . In eastern Baghdad , a third roadside bomb targeted a U.S. military patrol , the Interior Ministry said . There was no immediate word on casualties . The U.S. military on Wednesday also reported the deaths of two Sons of Iraq members who were trying to thwart a suicide attack on Tuesday in a town northwest of Baghdad . Watch more on Sons of Iraq » . A militant detonated a suicide vest outside a photo shop in Awad . The pair died in the strike but `` prevented the man from detonating the explosive vest filled with ball bearings in a crowd of local Iraqis . The selflessness of these men allowed time for surviving witnesses to recognize the threat and escape the blast , '' the military said . The Sons of Iraq , Concerned Local Citizens and Awakening Councils are the names of anti-al Qaeda in Iraq citizen groups that have emerged across the country in recent months . The U.S. military on Wednesday also reported a series of raids across Iraq over the last few days that led to the detentions of 20 suspected militants . The operations took place in the Baghdad area , in Mosul , and near Ramadi . Iraqi soldiers and Sons of Iraq members also found weapons caches . E-mail to a friend . CNN 's Arwa Damon contributed to this report .
U.S. admiral says tape made from al Qaeda recruitment tapes . Armed kids enact detaining bicyclist , searching car , clearing building . Soldiers seized video during December raid targeting al Qaeda in Iraq leader . Comment: