Iraq’s Diyala province known for female suicide bombers

[unhappycamper]

Rania al-Anbaqi, 15, was caught by Diyala province authorities wearing an explosive-laden vest in August. The province has had more than 20 female suicide bombers in the past year, more than any other Iraqi province.


Iraq’s Diyala province known for female suicide bombers
By Heath Druzin, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, November 18, 2008

BAQOUBA, Iraq — A woman clad in a black head-to-toe abaya walks with determination toward an Iraqi police Humvee. As the man she was following sprints away across the street, an explosion sends a fireball high into the air, shredding the vehicle.

The chilling surveillance videotape of the Oct. 8 bombing, in which 11 people were killed, shows one of the latest examples of a grim trend in Diyala province that has brought unwanted attention to the area.

"They don’t want to be known as the province that has women blowing themselves up," said Carrie Giardino, who works on women’s issues for the U.S. provincial reconstruction team in Diyala.

Suicide bombings are nothing new in Iraq. But poverty, sectarianism and families broken by violence have helped make Diyala the unofficial capital of female suicide bombers.

Now U.S. forces and Iraqi police are searching for ways to combat the trend.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=58872

[dipsydoodle]

1. Hence the expression

Does my bomb look big in this burqa.