Suicide bombings by women in Iraq
Some 50 women have carried out suicide attacks worldwide in the past five years, according to a report by Farhana Alia of the RAND Corp.
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A TV CONFESSION :
Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi shows the explosives strapped to her body that failed to go off when she and three men entered a Jordanian hotel on Nov. 9, 2005. Although her explosives failed to detonate, the other bombers killed 57 people.
REUTERS/Jordan TV
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Since 2003, the report cites at least five suicide bombing cases in Iraq, including an Iraqi woman who traveled to Jordan but failed in her mission. It also includes a Belgian woman who converted to Islam, then went to Iraq.
April 3, 2003: Two women blew up a car at a checkpoint, killing themselves and three US Army Rangers in western Iraq.
Sept. 28, 2005: An Iraqi woman disguised as a man stood among job applicants before detonating an explosive belt outside a US military facility in the city of Tal Afar. Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack, calling her a "blessed sister" affiliated with the Malik Suicidal Brigade.
Nov. 9, 2005: A failed car bombing of US troops killed a female suicide bomber and injured one soldier. The bomber was later identified as Muriel Degauque from Belgium, who had converted to Islam after marrying a Moroccan man.
Nov. 13, 2005: Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, an Iraqi from the city of Fallujah and a would-be suicide bomber, was arrested. She confessed on Jordanian TV that she had participated in a suicide bomb plot the previous week that killed 57 people at three hotels in Amman, Jordan. She said her explosives belt failed to detonate.
May 4, 2006: A female bomber removed an explosives-laden vest when she was denied access to a Baghdad courthouse and left it in a bag outside the building. It exploded and killed at least nine people and wounded 46.
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