The average age of newly recruited Islamic militants in the North Caucasus in on a constant decrease, with more and more teens joining terrorists’ ranks, a presidential envoy said on Saturday.

“These days, the insurgency is already drawing on 17- to 18-year-old boys, fresh out of school,” said Alexander Khloponin, the Kremlin’s envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District.

In 2008, the average age of militants killed in the North Caucasus stood between 19 and 23 years, according to official data.

Though the law enforcements have eliminated many terrorist leaders in recent years, the insurgency’s recruiting system is still functioning, thriving on the youth who have “not yet sorted out their feelings,” Khloponin said, speaking at a youth festival in Kabardino-Balkaria’s capital Nalchik.