- Title: IRAQ: Iraq's female bombers rise as al Qaeda's men fall
- Date: 7th August 2008
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SEJA AZIZ, A MEMBER OF THE SECURITY COMMITTEE OF DIYALA'S PROVINCIAL COUNCIL, SAYING: "These women are victims of al Qaeda's men. A woman would be married to about 10-15 of them, not even knowing their names, this is their version of Sharia and this led to depression and despair. The effects are now direct when she lives in a state of extreme despair,
- Embargoed: 22nd August 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Iraq
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,War / Fighting
- Reuters ID: LVAAAF4NOMH5PE05QAYB5HC2XSK9
- Story Text: Revenge, hardship and despair are fuelling the rise of Iraq's female suicide bombers.
Revenge, a change in tactics by insurgent groups or a perverse push for gender equality -- it is difficult to know precisely what is behind the dramatic increase in Iraq's female suicide bombers.
In a video posted on the internet and sold in Baghdad's souks, a group of women draped in cartridge belts and clutching pistols and rifles explained why they had taken up arms against the U.S. military in Iraq.
"We are Muslims, we defend the sanctity and dignity of Islam. We are defending this country that we were raised in. Why should we stand with our hands bound watching our men defending the country?" said one woman, her face covered.
Lately, nothing is stopping them. Even as overall violence in Iraq has fallen to levels unseen since early 2004, Iraq has seen a dramatic rise in the number of attacks by women, deployed by Sunni Arab militants as suicide bombers.
There have been 23 suicide bomb attacks carried out by women in Iraq so far this year, compared to eight attacks for the whole of 2007, the U.S.
military says.
In a single day last month, three women wearing explosive vests mingled with Shi'ite religious pilgrims in Baghdad and blew themselves up. A fourth bomber, also believed to have been a woman, struck Kurds protesting against a disputed election law in the north of the country.
In all, they killed nearly 60 people in the deadliest single day in Iraq for months. Nearly 250 people were wounded.
Iraqi authorities and the U.S. military say women who become bombers are often themselves victims of abuse by insurgents.
Many are motivated by a thirst for revenge for family members killed or captured. Others may be determined to show that they are as committed to the cause as any man.
"There are many reasons behind the increase in the numbers of female suicide bombers in Iraq, but the main reasons are the large number of women who want to avenge their husbands' death by the militias or other armed groups and the second reason is poverty," said Nasair al-Azzawi, spokesman of the Baghdad-based Monitor of Constitutional Freedom and Bill of Rights.
In parts of Iraq there is no shortage of desperate women with a grudge against U.S. and Iraqi forces.
Outside a police station in the city of Baquba, capital of Diyala province where most female suicide attacks have taken place in recent months, women waited for news of detained male relatives.
"The Americans arrested my husband and he didn't do anything. They came in, destroyed our homes. We've got nothing. We're living by the grace of God. We were asleep and they took him and we don't even have money. We will not stay silent to the foreigners," said one enraged woman, who declined to be named.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have routed al Qaeda from its former safe-havens in Iraq's west and Baghdad, and the Sunni Islamist group has since regrouped in Iraq's north, including Diyala, where a major security operation is now underway to crush insurgents.
As more male members of insurgent groups are killed or captured, many of their women want retribution.
Seja Aziz, a member of the security committee of Diyala's provincial council, said some women and girls are driven into the arms of al Qaeda by families embroiled in the insurgency.
Al Qaeda had power over the tribes in areas it controlled and in some cases forced their women to marry its members. When one insurgent was killed or captured, it was customary for the woman to be married off to another, Aziz said. Some of the brides were as young as 14.
"These women are victims of al Qaeda's men. A woman would be married to about 10-15 of them, not even knowing their names, this is their version of Sharia and this led to depression and despair. The effects are now direct when she lives in a state of extreme despair, so she goes to blow herself up to escape her life," Aziz said.
The U.S. military says many of the female suicide bombers are victims of rape, a claim that is difficult to verify.
The military calls the use of female bombers a desperate tactic by foes on the retreat, and says it shows the difficulty militants now face recruiting the young foreign Arab men they once trafficked into Iraq by the score for suicide missions.
Increased border security has made it more difficult to smuggle foreign fighters into Iraq, while a decision by Sunni Arab tribal leaders to turn on al Qaeda has helped to deprive the group of refuge and Iraqi volunteers.
Female suicide bombers offer tactical advantages for the militants.
Explosives are easy to hide under the voluminous black robes worn by many Iraqi women, and Arab cultural norms mean male guards are less likely to search them thoroughly.
But the insurgents aren't the only side seeking to take advantage of women's determination to join men in the fight. Iraq's security forces have set up the "Daughters of Iraq" programme training women to search other women at checkpoints.
Rana Abid, a female guard at a checkpoint in Diyala province, says she has joined the force to help preserve her country's security gains against the new threat.
"We have joined this work and wish all the women in Iraq do the same to protect the area and protect Iraq and help our brothers to build the new Iraq," she said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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