The baby-faced boy smiles as he lights a piece of cord on fire, and watches the flames envelop a teddy bear which sits in front of the black flag of ISIS.

As the toy burns and smoke fills the stone-walled room, he turns to give the ISIS one-fingered salute to the camera.

The disturbing new images appeared online around 48 hours ago. They have been attributed to ISIS but the terror group has not taken responsibility for them yet.

A respected counter-terrorism expert has told MailOnline he has 'no reason to believe' the images are not authentic.

It shows ISIS reaching 'a new level of barbarity', said Dr Colin Clarke, a political scientist at counter-terrorism think-tank RAND.

The video does not have the same production value or branding which features on Islamic State propaganda videos but Dr Clarke believes it is almost-certainly not a hoax.

He told MailOnline this is just another way for ISIS, which enrolls young men in vile army training camps and sends them on suicide missions, to create the next generation of extremists.

Dr Clarke said: 'These guys [ISIS] are raising kids to have the mindset of a jihadi from the very beginning.

'It's worrying because foreign fighters have their minds washed later in life, but these kids are being indoctrinated from a very, very young age. 

'This is a very important "state-building project" for Islamic State who want to fill their so-called caliphate with true believers, and what better way to do it. 

'It just shows that ISIS has no boundaries and nothing is unimaginable. Just when we thought it had surprised us, it sinks to such a new low.' 

Only yesterday, ISIS burned four Iraqi men to death by chaining them upside down and setting fire to a trail of petrol that engulfed them in flames.

The four men, who were chained around their wrists and ankles, were forced to watch as the flames licked towards them after a masked ISIS militant used a large torch to set fire to them.

Pictures of the young boy watching the flames rise from his teddy also echoes the murder of captured Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh, who was captured by Islamic State terrorists, trapped inside a cage and set on fire.

Dr Clarke said this horrific form of execution has become somewhat of a 'calling card' for Islamic State fighters. 

When asked if such propaganda images would deter parents from travelling to Iraq and Syria with their children, he said: 'No, I don't think it's counter-productive.

'This is a group who have beheaded people, set people on fire... I think the parents who take their children to such a place know exactly what they're getting themselves into.'

Footage released last week  - thought to have been released by the terror group but unconfirmed - showed the same child running into the room with a sharp dagger.

He grabbed the white and red teddy bear's head, thrusts the knife into its neck and uses it to hack away at its head during the 30-second clip, which was uploaded onto YouTube.

Then, smiling as if he was playing with the toy, the child raises the weapon into the air - seemingly copying the gesture carried out by Islamic State executioner, Jihadi John.

The boy's clothes also resemble those of Mohammed Emwazi, who has been responsible for the murders of at least five western hostages since he beheaded American journalist James Foley in August 2014.

When an unidentified man behind the camera shouts the word 'takfir', the boy once again appears to attack his cuddly toy.

The amateur video is not as professionally produced as previous ISIS footage. It has been released on social media reporting to have been made by ISIS, although MailOnline has not been able to confirm its provenance or veracity.

(dailymail.co.uk)