IRBIL, Iraq — A girl strapped with explosives approaches an Iraqi army captain, who dies in the suicide blast. A woman posing as a mother-to-be to disguise a bulging bomb belt strikes a wedding procession as part of a coordinated attack that kills nearly three dozen people.
The attacks last month were among the latest blows by female suicide bombers — and further evidence of shifting insurgent tactics amid an overall drop in bloodshed across Iraq.
U.S. military figures show that the number of female suicide attacks has risen from eight in 2007 to at least 16 so far this year — not including a suicide bombing Friday near Ramadi that Iraqi police think was carried out by a woman. That compares with four total in 2005 and 2006, according to the military.
Some female bombers appear motivated by revenge, such as the woman who killed 15 people in Diyala province Dec. 7. She was a former member of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party whose two sons joined al-Qaeda in Iraq and were killed by Iraqi security forces.
But activists and U.S. commanders also think al-Qaeda in Iraq is increasingly seeking to exploit women who are unable to deal with the grief of losing husbands, children and others to the violence.
“Al-Qaeda is preying on those who don’t have jobs, who don’t have education and who are feeling despair,” Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a conference last week on women’s issues.
The use of women as suicide bombers is a relatively new phenomenon in Iraq, although it has been used by militants elsewhere, particularly in Sri Lanka.
Farhana Ali, a terrorism expert with the RAND Corp. who has studied the issue extensively, said al-Qaeda’s efforts to recruit women reflects its desperation after recent crackdowns.
“Al-Qaeda and insurgents are now desperate and want to ensure that their cause (and) organization stays alive,” she said. “Women’s participation in violence keeps the cause alive for many reasons: Women, like men, also share similar grievances, especially women who have suffered a loss.”
American commanders claim al-Qaeda in Iraq is seeking out women and children to evade stepped-up security measures and checkpoints.
Women often are allowed to pass through male-guarded checkpoints without being searched, and they traditionally wear flowing black robes that can easily hide explosives belts.
Faiza Sayyid Alwan, a Sunni provincial council member from Diyala province, said insurgents will try to exploit women’s misery as long as the Shiite-dominated government struggles to improve their lives.
“Religion has been used in a very violent way to pressure the women to do certain things,” she said. “Women in Diyala have been widowed, they have no support. They’re unemployed. Many have been displaced, their houses demolished, their property gone, destroyed.
“Where can she go, a woman like that? What can she do?”
