A sickening new ISIS propaganda video has emerged showing children forced to hunt prisoners through an abandoned building before shooting them dead.

In the footage, released by ISIS's Al Hayat News Agency, the so-called 'cubs of the caliphate' can be seen taking part in what seem to be standard military drills.

The children, who do not appear to be older than 10 or 11, move room-to-room while wielding handguns, checking each space is clear before moving on.

A sickening new ISIS propaganda video shows child soldiers armed with handguns being sent into an abandoned building to hunt and kill prisoners

But while most soldiers carry out these drills using wooden targets, ISIS has forced the youngsters to hunt down living human prisoners.

Handcuffed and terrified, the captives can be seen fleeing from the youngsters before being cornered.

Their final moments are captured in gruesome detail - begging for their lives and screaming in pain, according to Sky News.

One by one all of the prisoners are then shot dead.

Children often feature in ISIS propaganda videos, which are professionally produced by skilled teams to ensure maximum impact.

The children, who do not appear to be older than 10 or 11, are shown clearing rooms in an abandoned house, which is a common military training drill using wood or metal targets

But in this film the children are hunting handcuffed prisoners who can be seen running away from them in terror before being cornered and shot

Partly this is because the terrorists know children have the greatest shock value and will therefore spread their message the furthest.

Showing fighters indoctrinating the next generation of jihadis also reinforces ISIS's claim to be a functioning country and gives the organisation a sense of permanence.

ISIS is believed to be recruiting child soldiers at an 'unprecedented' rate, according to studies by the Combating Terrorism Centre at West Point.

It is estimated that the terror group has around 1,500 children in its ranks, though this number could easily be higher, CNN reports.

Between January 2015 and January 2016, the CTC found 89 children were killed fighting for ISIS, with around 39 per cent dying while carrying out a suicide attack.

The CTC also notes that, while child soldiers are traditionally used as a resource of last resort, ISIS is relatively unique because it uses them alongside rather than instead of regular soldiers.

The group uses its warped reading of Islam to justify this approach