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Female Suicide Bombers Are Latest War Tactic
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"There's a definite correlation between pressure we've put on al-Qaeda, in stopping funding and stopping foreign fighters from coming into Iraq, and the rise in female suicide attacks," said Col. Scott Maw, a U.S. military intelligence officer.
Abu Abdul Aziz al-Mohammadi, an al-Qaeda leader in Anbar, conceded that women are being recruited because there were fewer Arab fighters. Many male Iraqi insurgents, he added, are less willing to "die in car bombs or wear explosives belts."
"We consider the women's battalion a winning card which has not been used effectively up to now," Mohammadi said. "They have a penchant for vengeance more than men sometimes. Also, a woman blowing herself up applies pressure on the men who refuse to do the same."
In Diyala, most female bombers hail from small villages where al-Qaeda insurgents have sought havens. The women are often uneducated and live in a male-dominated society where they are considered second-class citizens. Here, religion, duty and honor are often tools of manipulation, Iraqi officials said.
"In these villages, the tradition is for women to blindly obey the man, their husband, father or brother. To convince these women to commit suicide attacks is easy," said Lt. Gen. Abdul Karim Rubaie, who oversees military operations in Diyala.
Some women, he said, are wives or girlfriends who have been abandoned by al-Qaeda leaders and ostracized by their communities.
"These women become broken," Rubaie said. "Nobody will marry her. No one respects her. She commits a suicide bombing to get rid of the criticism in her society and the isolation. The pressure comes from relatives, not friends."
Some bombers have been tricked into committing bombings. In March, two women with Down syndrome were used in an attack on a crowded market in Baghdad, and in May, a 14-year-old girl in Baqubah was strapped with an explosives vest that was detonated by remote control, Iraqi officials said.
In some instances, impoverished women have been promised assistance for their families if they become bombers. "There has been a lot of pressure from al-Qaeda leadership on women," Maw said. "There have been promises of money to the family, although we have not seen one incident where that has played out."
In Baghdad, the fear of female bombers has persuaded officials to create the National Institute for Handicapped and Special Needs, a school for children with mental impairments that is funded by U.S. reconstruction money.
Girls and boys are given an hour's lesson every week on how to identify Iraq's dangers. On a recent day, teachers drew stick diagrams of insurgents on whiteboards and posted colorful crayon drawings of bombs and other explosives on walls.
"This is an explosives belt. Don't ever get close to it," teacher Zena Abbas told the class. "If a stranger comes to you and gives you a toy or money and asks you to put on an explosives belts, say no. He wants you to blow yourself up and die. And then you will hurt many people for no reason."
