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Dateline: Mar 10

Dateline looks at how teens in Austria are being targeted by Islamic State, and talks to one boy who said no.

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While news of young Australians joining Islamic State is making headlines, tonight’s Dateline looks at how teens in Austria are being targeted, and talks to one boy who said no.

Meanwhile Dateline also asks what is it like to be transgender in Indonesia?

The Islamic State is desperately recruiting young, strong and fit Muslims to fight – even if they’re only teenagers.

They’re using violent propaganda films resembling popular video games like Counterstrike to target young men.

One 16-year-old boy who has lost several friends to IS speaks to Dateline.

“None of them apart from one managed to survive longer than one year. It’s not a good feeling to know that friends you spent time with, played soccer with, they died. It’s not a good feeling.”

Six of his friends were lured away from their Austrian homes to fight in Syria – all of them died.

He tells Dateline how he’s resisting the urge to fight: “I would say I have other goals than killing myself.”

On Tuesday’s program, Danielle Isdale travels to Vienna to meet Chechen Muslims. She discovers the Islamic State is intentionally targeting refugees displaced by war – people struggling to connect in new communities.

“Many times I have been shouted at because of my origin and I feel that people think I can’t live here as a Chechen in Austria,” local Chechens explain to Dateline.

Radical Imams are spreading their message in German and they’re actively recruiting using face-to-face methods throughout Austria. Meanwhile, elders in the Chechen community are desperately trying to stop the IS recruitment drive.

“They are used as tools and sent out there to be slaughtered.” Grandfather of the 16-year-old teen tells Dateline.

An estimated 170 radicalised Muslims have already left Austria to fight for IS.

Tuesday, 10 March at 9.30pm on SBS ONE

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