Woman suicide bomber vowed to die a martyr
Wafa Idris, the Palestinian’s first female suicide bomber who blew herself up at the weekend, was a former volunteer paramedic who had been hit three times by Israeli rubber bullets.
She did not tell her family she was a member of any militant group, relatives said today. But the Al Aqsa Brigades, part of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, said she carried out the bombing.
‘‘Usually when she came back from work, she would tell us stories about the injured people she had treated and she looked affected,’’ said her sister, Wisam.
‘‘She used to say ‘If I die, I want to die as a martyr.’’’
A 27-year-old childless divorcee, Idris lived with her family in a refugee camp in the west Bank town of Ramallah. When she left home on Sunday, relatives thought she was going to her job at the Red Crescent emergency medical service.
‘‘She left as usual, with a smile on her face, running as if she were flying,’’ said her elderly mother, Wasfia Idris, sitting on the floor beneath pictures of Arafat.
Hours later, she set off a powerful 22 lb bomb, killing herself and an 81-year-old Israeli man and wounding more than a dozen people.
Palestinians have carried out dozens of bombings against Israel in 16 months of fighting, but Sunday’s was the first carried out by a woman.
Israeli police have not officially confirmed the identity of the bomber, and today said they still do not know whether she intended to blow herself up.
The bombing was the latest in a series of deadly attacks in Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is considering a plan to intensify security and make it more difficult for Palestinians from the West Bank, such as Idris, to enter the city.
At their cramped concrete home, Idris’ family described her as a cheerful but sometimes hot-tempered woman who had no overt ties to any militant groups.
As a paramedic who watched Palestinian clashes with Israel soldiers, Idris was hit three times by rubber bullets, her family said. Her sister-in-law, Wisam Idris, saw a transformation in Wafa after the latest round of violence broke out in September 2000.
Her three brothers are members of Arafat’s Fatah party, and one is wanted by Israel. They drive a taxi to support their extended family, but business is slow, they said, with the Palestinian economy in tatters.
