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Female Suicide Bombers Are Latest War Tactic
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"If you do not know the address, I will execute you at the gate," Khalaf said.
The police have yet to arrest the woman. Rania remains in prison.
Driven by Hate, Revenge
In a village east of Fallujah in Anbar province, a veiled, olive-skinned woman described herself as the second in command of the Naseeba al-Ansariya Martyrdom Battalion. The unit is an arm of the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group created by the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq.
She said the 20 members of the group, formed in November, were would-be suicide bombers who were the wives, sisters or daughters of insurgents killed by U.S. or Iraqi forces.
Contacted through previously successful means of reaching members of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the woman gave her name as Um Islam and agreed to speak to a Post special correspondent on condition that her real name and precise location not be mentioned.
Women, she said, had long been involved in the Sunni insurgency. Some came from other countries with husbands who were determined to become fighters in Iraq. The women treated wounded insurgents and carried explosives belts underneath their garments, taking advantage of conservative Muslim traditions, Um Islam said.
A U.S. military intelligence official said he had no knowledge of Arab women accompanying their husbands to Iraq.
"Searching women at the time was a red line, and there were no women guards searching other women at the checkpoints," explained Um Islam, an Iraqi who said her husband was killed by U.S. forces last year.
But as fighters died in increasing numbers, she said, "hatred and a sense of revenge" drove their widows to rise up against the Americans.
She said those who wish to join the battalion, whose name honors a female warrior of the prophet Muhammad's time, are introduced by references. "She needs to put her wish to meet God and her loved ones in Paradise above her wish to support the faith and liberate the land from the usurpers," Um Islam said of a potential recruit.
"We have one woman who is pregnant and is now waiting to deliver," she added, "after which she will be in line for a martyrdom operation."
'A Winning Card'
U.S. military intelligence officials said they are unaware of a unit of female suicide bombers; Iraqi officials said they think there are networks of female operatives. Both the Americans and Iraqis acknowledged that revenge is a key motive and said women were being used instead of male fighters.
