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Thursday 19 November 2015

From 'black widows' hellbent on revenge to girls as young as ten: How terror groups from Nigeria to Turkey deployed female suicide bombers long before ISIS

Female suicide bomber in Paris one of many in history before ISIS
Europe's first female suicide bomber Hasna Aitboulahcen (left) who blew herself up at a Paris apartment during a police siege yesterday was far from the world's first to carry out such an attack. While most suicide bombers are men, Islamic militant groups, as well as leftist and separatist groups in the Arab world and beyond, have occasionally deployed women to carry out such attacks. 

Pictured centre, Iraqi suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi opens her jacket to show her explosive vest as she confesses on Jordanian TV her failed bid to detonate inside an Amman hotel targeted by Al Qaeda; top right Ruzanna Ibragimova, a suspected black widow in Sochi; bottom right, Samira Ahmed Jassim, suspected of recruiting more than 80 female suicide bombers across Iraq.


While most suicide bombers are men, Islamic militant groups have occasionally deployed women to carry out such attacks, some as young as ten.
And long before the rise of Islamic radicalism, female suicide bombers were used by separatist groups in the Arab world and beyond.
From girls as young as ten in Nigeria to 'black widows' intent on revenge in Russia, here's a look at the roles they played for different terror groups over the years.
Botched: Iraqi suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi opens her jacket to show her explosive vest as she confesses on Jordanian TV to her failed bid to detonate herself inside an Amman hotels targeted by Al Qaeda in Jordan. She was executed earlier this year after ISIS burnt to death Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh whose fighter jet was shot down over Syria in December
Botched: Iraqi suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi opens her jacket to show her explosive vest as she confesses on Jordanian TV to her failed bid to detonate herself inside an Amman hotels targeted by Al Qaeda in Jordan. She was executed earlier this year after ISIS burnt to death Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh whose fighter jet was shot down over Syria in December
Samira Ahmed Jassim, suspected of recruiting more than 80 female suicide bombers, poses for a photograph at a detention facility in Baghdad, Iraq, in January 2009. While most suicide bombers are men, Islamic militant groups have occasionally deployed women to carry out such attacks
Samira Ahmed Jassim, suspected of recruiting more than 80 female suicide bombers, poses for a photograph at a detention facility in Baghdad, Iraq, in January 2009. While most suicide bombers are men, Islamic militant groups have occasionally deployed women to carry out such attacks

AL QAEDA IN IRAQ
A decade ago, Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi sent four members of his group – which would later morph into the Islamic State – to carry out bombings in his home country of Jordan.
In that November 9, 2005 assault, Sajida al-Rishawi and her newlywed husband, Ali al-Shamari, entered the ground-floor ballroom of Amman's Radisson SAS hotel while hundreds of people were celebrating a wedding reception. 
Al-Shamari set off his explosive belt among crowd. Al-Rishawi fled.
Al-Zarqawi later claimed responsibility for the attack and mentioned a woman being involved, leading Jordanian officials to arrest al-Rishawi. 
Several days later, she appeared on Jordanian state television, opening a body-length overcoat to reveal two crude explosive belts.
Al-Risawhi was executed earlier this year after ISIS burnt to death Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh, whose war plane was shot down over Syria in December. 
Palestinian female suicide bomber Merfat Masoud, from the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya. In the Palestinian territories, about a dozen women have carried out suicide attacks against Israelis since 2002
Palestinian female suicide bomber Merfat Masoud, from the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya. In the Palestinian territories, about a dozen women have carried out suicide attacks against Israelis since 2002

LEBANON AND PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
During Israel's 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon that ended in 2000, several women belonging to leftist groups blew themselves up targeting Israeli forces.
Among those women was Sanaa Mheidly, 17, who blew up a car rigged with explosives in an Israeli convoy in 1985, killing and wounding more than a dozen Israeli soldiers. 
She became the most prominent and the first to carry out such an attack in the Arab world.
In the Palestinian territories, about a dozen women have carried out suicide attacks against Israelis since 2002 – including 27-year-old paramedic Wafa Idris, who blew herself up in downtown Jerusalem on January 27, 2002. 
It was unclear if she planned to commit suicide. An 81-year-old Israeli man also died in that attack, the first by a Palestinian woman. 
Iranian students fill in the papers of registration forms indicating their readiness for martyrdom or to carry out suicide attacks in Tehran. Long before the rise of Islamic radicalism, women suicide bombers were used by leftist and separatist groups in the Arab and beyond
Iranian students fill in the papers of registration forms indicating their readiness for martyrdom or to carry out suicide attacks in Tehran. Long before the rise of Islamic radicalism, women suicide bombers were used by leftist and separatist groups in the Arab and beyond

TURKEY
Kurdish women have carried out several suicide attacks in Turkey since the 1980s – as have female members of leftist groups in their campaign against the government. 
The most recent attack occurred on January 6, when a Turkish leftist group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at an Istanbul police station that killed an officer and wounded another.
Authorities said the female bomber in that attack entered the building in the tourist district of Sultanahmet and blew herself up. 
In a statement posted online, the leftist Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C, said it carried out the attack, calling the bombing 'an act of sacrifice.' 
A police leaflet shows a picture of Ruzanna Ibragimova and contains warnings about two other potential suicide bombers at a hotel in Sochi in January 2014. Female suicide bombers from Chechnya and elsewhere in the North Caucasus were common enough that they became known as 'black widows' in Russia
A police leaflet shows a picture of Ruzanna Ibragimova and contains warnings about two other potential suicide bombers at a hotel in Sochi in January 2014. Female suicide bombers from Chechnya and elsewhere in the North Caucasus were common enough that they became known as 'black widows' in Russia
Commuters injured by a blast at the Park Kultury subway station in Moscow wait for medical care just outside the station shortly after female suicide bombers blew themselves in twin attacks on the subway in 2010
Commuters injured by a blast at the Park Kultury subway station in Moscow wait for medical care just outside the station shortly after female suicide bombers blew themselves in twin attacks on the subway in 2010

RUSSIA
Female suicide bombers from Chechnya and elsewhere in the North Caucasus were common enough that they became known as 'black widows' in Russia. 
Many were the wives of or otherwise related to Islamic militants killed by government forces in their effort to suppress the separatist movement.
Two of those female suicide bombers were to blame for the 2010 bombings of the Moscow metro, which killed some 40 people. 
Children stand near the scene of an explosion a day after two female suicide bombers targeted the busy marketplace in Potiskum, Nigeria. A string of suicide bombings blamed on the militant group Boko Haram have increasingly been carried out by women and girls, some who are elderly and others as young as ten
Children stand near the scene of an explosion a day after two female suicide bombers targeted the busy marketplace in Potiskum, Nigeria. A string of suicide bombings blamed on the militant group Boko Haram have increasingly been carried out by women and girls, some who are elderly and others as young as ten
NIGERIA

In Nigeria, a string of suicide bombings blamed on the militant group Boko Haram have increasingly been carried out by women and girls, some who are elderly and others as young as ten.
Unlike many of the bombers used by ISIS in its Iraq and Syria, however, there are concerns that the Nigerian bombers are being deployed against their will. 
A military bomb disposal expert has told The Associated Press that many of the explosives in those blasts are remotely detonated, suggesting that the insurgents are strapping explosives to females they hold captive and sending them to their deaths. 
This  image from security camera footage released by Sri Lanka police in November 2007 shows a female suicide bomber identified by police as 24-year-old Sujatha Vagawanam on a mission to kill a Sri Lankan Cabinet minister. Vagawanam (centre left, standing, lifting her right hand), calmly walked into a small waiting room at the Colombo offices of Social Services Minister Douglas Devananda on Wednesday. She stands up facing Peiris, reached her right hand to her right shoulder to grab something and exploded
This image from security camera footage released by Sri Lanka police in November 2007 shows a female suicide bomber identified by police as 24-year-old Sujatha Vagawanam on a mission to kill a Sri Lankan Cabinet minister. Vagawanam (centre left, standing, lifting her right hand), calmly walked into a small waiting room at the Colombo offices of Social Services Minister Douglas Devananda on Wednesday. She stands up facing Peiris, reached her right hand to her right shoulder to grab something and exploded
A police spokesperson distributes photographs in Novmeber 30 of an alleged female suicide bomber who exploded outside a senior minister's office in Colombo, Sri Lanka
A police spokesperson distributes photographs in Novmeber 30 of an alleged female suicide bomber who exploded outside a senior minister's office in Colombo, Sri Lanka
SRI LANKA AND INDIA
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels deployed multiple female suicide bombers as part of a more than two decade-long insurgency.
Their bombing campaign against political, military and economic targets was aimed at creating an independent state for the ethnic minority Tamils. 
A Tamil woman blew herself up in 1991 in southern India, killing Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi.
AFGHANISTAN
Female suicide bombers are very rare in Afghanistan, though one such attack was carried out by an elderly woman in Kunar province in 2010. 
Two fingers: This is the first picture of Hasna Ait Boulahcen, the female suicide bomber who blew herself up in yesterday morning's terror raid in Saint Denis, Paris
Two fingers: This is the first picture of Hasna Ait Boulahcen, the female suicide bomber who blew herself up in yesterday morning's terror raid in Saint Denis, Paris
ISIS

ISIS proudly posts videos and photographs of fighters who carry out suicide attacks but they never posted any of women suicide attackers. 
Female fighters are active in the group, however, and have a brigade known as Khansaa.
In 2010, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who was then the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq group, said after a Shura Council meeting that women should not carry out suicide attacks. 
Current ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who replaced the late commander, is believed to still abide by the rule.
Mia Bloom, a professor of communications at Georgia State University and author of Bombshell: Women and Terrorism, said that after a theological discussion, ISIS told women in October that they could blow themselves up if they are raided in their house. 
'She can detonate it without anyone's permission,' she said.

Via
- Daily Mail

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