BAGHDAD — A female suicide bomber detonated her explosive vest in a popular marketplace in Diyala province Wednesday, killing at least eight people and injuring seven others.
The attack was the fourth suicide bombing by women in Iraq since November, all of them in Diyala, where Iraq’s insurgency has been centered for much of the past year.
It occurred on the same day that small-arms fire killed three U.S. soldiers conducting operations in Salahuddin province north of the capital, the U.S. military said. Two other soldiers were wounded and evacuated to a coalition hospital.
Wednesday’s suicide assault occurred in Khan Bani Saad, a farm village roughly midway between Baghdad and the provincial capital of Baqubah.
The U.S. military said female suicide bombers are an increasing threat.
“We have indications that al-Qaeda is trying to recruit more female suicide bombers,” said Col. Donald Bacon, a U.S. military spokesman. “They think that the female suicide bombers can infiltrate defenses more easily or they may have more chance for success in their operation. They tend not to be searched as closely.”
Bacon said that progress is underway to increase searches of women at checkpoints.
“We brought on women Iraqi police officers, and we have some concerned local citizens who are ladies. They can more easily do searches of the women going through the checkpoints,” he said.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that female bombers sign up as a way to make amends to their families, Bacon said.
“They feel like they’ve done something in the past and this is one way to get redemption,” Bacon said.
In Mosul, the capital of northern Ninevah province, a suicide car bomber targeted a U.S. military convoy. Five Iraqi civilians were killed, but information about any U.S. casualties was not immediately available, Iraqi police Brig. Gen. Khalikl Jubbori said.
