The group released images from the film on a jihadist website, prompting some users to slam them as too scary. (Courtesy of Quilliam). Caption from New York Daily News

Yemen-based Al Qaeda sympathizers are in the midst of producing a children’s cartoon to recruit young Muslim viewers to join their cause and take up arms against the West, according to intelligence experts monitoring militant websites.

The British thinktank Quilliam, which aims to combat extremism, found out about the propaganda film on the password-protected Arabic-language al-Shumukh online forum Sunday. According to Quilliam, Abu al-Laith al-Yemin, a contributor to the website, wrote about the project that he is working on with several associates to teach children aboutAl Qaeda’s history and encourage them to engage in terrorist activity, Reuters reported.

“The cartoon movie 'Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula' (AQAP) is a very exciting story that tells the facts about who let down the Islamic religion and the Prophet, and how the Arab leaders are agents of the West and other Islamic issues," Quilliam quoted al-Yemen as saying.

Al-Yemen wrote on the forum that the cartoon will depict events that have actually happened, including raids and assassinations.

“This movie is a religious effort to educate our sons and youth about how to live a noble life under the shade of the Sharia. It's an alternative to the poison that is broadcast by other TV channels broadcast to our children and youth," he said.

The group supposedly behind the video’s production, also called AQAP, has been responsible for helping Al Qaeda reach out to the youth population through the internet, Reuters reported. Recently the group produced a magazine-style web publication called Inspire, written in English, to attract teens.

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