First Female Bomb in Iraq

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Female Suicide Bomber Attacks U.S. Military Post

By Jackie Spinner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 29, 2005; Page A16

BAGHDAD, Sept. 28 -- A female suicide bomber dressed like a man detonated an explosive belt outside a U.S. military facility in the northern Iraqi city of Tall Afar on Wednesday, killing at least five civilians and injuring more than 30, the military said. The unidentified woman was the first known female suicide bomber in the insurgency that began after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The bomber "was denied entry" to a building, called a civil military operations center, that was used as a semipublic place for U.S. soldiers to interact with local people, said Maj. Gary Dangerfield, a spokesman for the Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Tall Afar. Residents whose homes were damaged in the recent U.S.-Iraqi offensive in the city could make claims for damages at the facility.

The group al Qaeda in Iraq asserted responsibility for the attack, calling the bomber a "sister" affiliated with the Malik Suicidal Brigade. In an Internet posting, al Qaeda in Iraq, which is led by Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian who is the most feared and wanted insurgent in Iraq, said the bomber attacked the center because it was a gathering spot "of converted volunteers." Residents said the building used to be an Iraqi army recruiting center.

Officials at the Iraqi Interior Ministry in Baghdad said they had no information regarding the attack.

Former president Saddam Hussein's security forces used female bombers at least once during the 2003 invasion, when two women blew up their car at a checkpoint near the northern city of Haditha, killing three American soldiers, the Associated Press reported.

"Today's attack seems to represent a new tactic by the insurgents to use women, who are rarely searched at the Tall Afar checkpoints because of religious and social traditions that grant women special treatment," Gen. Ahmed Mohammed Khalaf, the regional police chief, told the AP. This did not explain, however, how a woman dressed in men's clothing would not have raised suspicions.

Khalaf said that as a result of the bombing, women and children would now be searched in the same manner as men.