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Iraqi Militants Use Disabled Women As Bombers

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By STEVEN R. HURST, The Associated Press

Published: February 2, 2008

Updated: 02/02/2008 12:22 am

BAGHDAD - Two women described as mentally disabled and strapped with remote-control explosives - and possibly used as unwitting suicide bombers - brought carnage Friday to two pet bazaars, killing at least 91 people in the deadliest day since Washington flooded the capital with extra troops last spring.

Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, Iraq's chief military spokesman in Baghdad, said the women had Down syndrome and may not have known they were on suicide missions, but gave no further details on how authorities pieced together the evidence. He also said the bombs were detonated by remote control.

The coordinated blasts - coming 20 minutes apart in different parts of the city - appeared to reinforce U.S. claims al-Qaida in Iraq may be increasingly desperate and running short of able-bodied men willing or available for such missions.

But they also served as a reminder that Iraqi insurgents are constantly shifting their strategies in attempts to unravel recent security gains around the country. Women have been used in greater frequency in suicide attacks, because they often encounter less scrutiny by security officials.

The twin attacks at the pet markets, however, could mark a disturbing use of unknowing agents of death.

In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the bombings prove al-Qaida is "the most brutal and bankrupt of movements" and will strengthen Iraqi resolve to reject terrorism.

Iraqi officials raised the death toll to 91 from 73 today.

Police said the woman wearing the bomb sold cream in the mornings at the market and was known to locals as "the crazy lady."

Market A Popular Gathering Site

The pet bazaar has been bombed repeatedly, but with violence declining in the capital, the market had regained popularity as a shopping district and place to stroll on Fridays, the Muslim day of prayer.

A pigeon vendor said the market had been unusually crowded, with people taking advantage of a pleasantly crisp and clear winter day after a particularly harsh January.

"I have been going to the pet market with my friend every Friday, selling and buying pigeons," said Ali Ahmed, who was hit by shrapnel in his legs and chest. "It was nice weather today, and the market was so crowded."

He said he was worried about his friend, Zaki, who disappeared after the blast about 40 yards away.

"I just remember the horrible scene of the bodies of dead and wounded people mixed with the blood of animals and birds, then I found myself lying in a hospital bed," Ali said.

About 20 minutes after the first attack, the second female suicide bomber was blown apart in a bird market in a predominantly Shiite area in southeastern Baghdad. Initial reports had said as many as 27 people died and 67 were wounded, police and hospital officials said.

Rae Muhsin, the 21-year-old owner of a cell phone store, said he was walking toward the New Baghdad bird market when the explosion shattered the windows of nearby stores.

"I ran toward the bird market and saw charred pieces of flesh, small spots of blood and several damaged cars," Muhsin said. "I thought that we had achieved real security in Baghdad, but it turned that we were wrong."

The bombings were the latest in a series that has frayed Iraqi confidence in the permanence of recent security gains.

'A Different, Deadly Way'

The U.S. military in Iraqi issued a statement that shared "the outrage of the Iraqi people, and we condemn the brutal enemy responsible for these attacks, which bear the hallmarks of being carried out by al-Qaida in Iraq."

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, said the bombings showed that a resilient al-Qaida has "found a different, deadly way" to try to destabilize Iraq.

"There is nothing they won't do if they think it will work in creating carnage and the political fallout that comes from that," he said.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said the attacks were motivated by revenge and an attempt "to stop the march of history and of our people toward reconciliation."

Navy Cmdr. Scott Rye, a U.S. military spokesman, confirmed that both attacks were carried out by women wearing explosives vests and said the attacks appeared coordinated and likely the work of al-Qaida in Iraq.

Associated Press records show that since the start of the war, at least 169 people have been killed in at least 17 attacks or attempted attacks by female suicide bombers, including Friday's bombings.

The most recent attack was Jan. 16, when a female suicide bomber detonated her explosives among men preparing for the Ashoura holiday in a Shiite village in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad.

Involving women in such deadly activity violates cultural taboos in Iraq, but the U.S. military has warned that al-Qaida is recruiting women and young people as suicide attackers because militants are increasingly desperate to thwart stepped-up security measures.

Women in Iraq often wear abayas, the black Islamic robe, and avoid thorough searches at checkpoints because men are not allowed to touch them and there are too few female police.

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