Donald Trump says families of terrorists should be targeted

Republican frontrunner Donald Trump said that in the fight against the Islamic State (Isis), the families of terrorists should be targeted. Trump, who has made several controversial comments following the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November, said terrorists use their family members "as shields".

"We're fighting a very politically correct war," Trump said during a 2 December interview on Fox and Friends. "And the other things with the terrorists, you have to take out their families. When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families! They care about their lives, don't kid yourselves. They say they don't care about their lives. But you have to take out their families."

Trump also vowed to "hit them [IS] like they've never been hit before." According to New York Magazine, when co-host Brian Kilmeade asked the presidential candidate about the risk of civilian casualties, Trump said he would do "his absolute best" to minimise the number of civilian casualties. He quickly changed his thoughts and suggested going after terrorists's relatives.

On 22 November, Trump said during an interview on ABC's This Week that if he were elected he would bring back waterboarding as an interrogation technique for suspected terrorists. "I would bring it back, yes, I would bring it back. I think waterboarding is peanuts compared to what they'd do to us," he said. "We have to be strong. You know they don't use waterboarding over there; they use chopping off people's heads."

The comment came after Trump said he would "absolutely" create a database of Muslims in the US and that he would monitor mosques because they are "hot spots". Despite these comments, Trump continues to lead in the Republican field. A 2 December Quinnipiac University poll revealed that Trump leads with 27% and is followed by Florida Senator Marco Rubio with 17%.