Iraqi woman recruited 80 female suicide bombers
An Iraqi woman today confessed to recruiting more than 80 female suicide bombers.
Samira Ahmed Jassim nicknamed “the mother of believers,” was shown admitting her role in a military video in Baghdad.
Dressed in an all-encompassing black Islamic robe, she described how she would persuade the women to be bombers, then escort them to an orchard for training and finally pick them up and lead them to their targets.
She said she was acting on behalf of insurgents based in the volatile Diyala province, north of Baghdad.
Jassim was arrested by Iraqi security forces acting on tips on January 21 and is linked to the Ansar al-Sunnah insurgent group.
In the video, Jassim said she had to talk to one elderly woman several times before persuading her to blow herself up at a bus station.
It also took Jassim two weeks to recruit another woman who was a teacher and had problems with her husband and his family.
The woman eventually attacked members of government-backed Sunni groups in Diyala province.
An Iraqi military spokesman said she had admitted masterminding 28 bombings in different areas.
The number of bombings carried out by women has risen in Iraq even as overall violence has declined.
At least 36 female suicide bombers attempted or successfully carried out 32 suicide attacks last year, compared with eight in 2007.
The use of female suicide bombers is part of a shift in insurgent tactics to avoid detection at checkpoints that have become numerous in Iraq as part of increased security measures.
Iraqi women often are allowed to pass through male-guarded checkpoints without being searched, and they traditionally wear flowing black robes that make it easier to hide explosive belts.
