INSURGENTS IN IRAQ RECRUIT WOMEN SUICIDE BOMBERS

There is a lull in the fighting and violence in Iraq, but sources in Iraq say it is only temporary.

Iraqi insurgents have been recruiting women who are seeking revenge for the loss of loved ones to become suicide bombers.

When the female suicide bombers will take to the streets of Baghdad and other cities is anyone's guess, but many think it will coincide with the Presidential election in the United States.

Women suicide bombers seeking revenge in IraqUS forces say insurgents recruiting women driven by revenge to act as suicide bombers in Iraq.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/features/?id=27111

BAQUBA, Iraq - In the war-ravaged streets of Iraq, US-led forces say insurgents are recruiting women driven by revenge to act as suicide bombers in the latest tactic against coalition troops.

Motivated by poverty, desperation or vengeance against the US-led military they blame for the deaths of family members, Iraqi women are joining the insurgency
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Thursday evening a female suicide bomber killed eight people and wounded 20 after she detonated her explosives-filled vest in Baquba, the capital of Diyala, one of the most dangerous regions in the country.

The bomber targeted a Sahwa or Awakening patrol of Iraqi forces -- former insurgents recruited to fight Al-Qaeda in Iraq and paid by the US military.

The blast demonstrates a growing trend of using women in insurgent attacks.

"One of the reasons for women to kill like this is a desire for vengeance," said Captain Kevin Ryan, commander of a US base in Baquba. "Often, they have lost parents, brothers or children in the fighting."

"Some want vengeance for the fact their families have disappeared," said Iraqi army Colonel Ali Al-Karkhi, who is responsible for security in the Khan Bani Saad district 30 kilometres (19 miles) outside Baquba.

"Last year in the Magdadiya district, a woman who had five sons killed by the Iraqi police, blew herself up close to a group of police recruits looking to join up," he said.

Women without education, or even those who suffer from learning disabilities, are Abu Zarra, leader of an Awakening group west of Baquba, described how some months ago he was visited by a young woman dressed in a long black dress which covered her whole body.

"She was about 17 or 18-years-old and she asked for help. She said she needed to see Abu Zarra. She spoke to me without knowing who I was," he explained.

The tribal chief left to go to a wedding and decided to leave the woman in the care of one of his guards. It was a decision which saved the chief's life.

"She opened her dress and blew herself up," he said. "Three were killed and two wounded. One of my guards was burned alive."

Fearful for their safety, US soldiers patrolling the streets avoid women wearing these long dresses. "Each time you see one, you wonder if she is going to blow herself up," one soldier said.

"Women use attacks as a protest. In Iraq, they are protesting at the loss of their men, the loss of their society and the loss of their country," said Farhana Ali, a US international policy analyst.

"We can't assume that all Iraqi women suicide attackers are exploited and recruited. We have to ask how many women are doing this because they want to -- that's the more serious question," said Ali.