Post | 08/25/2008 1:30 pm

Iraqi Teenage Girl Wearing Explosives Turns Self in to Police

By The Staff at wowOwow.com
Iraqi police photo of suspected suicide bomber © AP

A teenage girl wearing a vest packed with explosives turned herself in — still wearing the vest — rather than go through with a suicide bombing in Iraq.

The girl, whose age has been reported as both 13 and 15, surrendered to Iraqi police in Baquba, a city North of Baghdad that serves as the capital of Iraq’s restive Diyala province, where Sunni Arab Al Qaeda militants are waging war on U.S. and Iraqi forces, the U.S. military said, according to Reuters.

"Reports are that she approached the IPs (Iraqi police) saying she had the vest on and didn’t want to go through with it," U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant Commander David Russell told Reuters on Monday. "If she was forced to put on the vest or if she did it voluntarily, that is still being reviewed."

AP reports that Iraqi police publicly questioned the girl and paraded her in front of reporters, pressing her to confess she was planning the bombing. The girl claimed two women put the vest on her. Police released videos of the arrest and public interrogation to the media on Monday.

The girl gave her first name as Rania and said she was born in 1993. But she appeared confused, giving conflicting answers about whether she knew the two women who put the vest packed with 33 pounds of explosives on her. One policeman could be heard in the video saying she was initially unable to speak when police found her because she had been given drugs.

The girl denied that she planned on carrying out an attack, saying she had been instructed to remove the vest when she got home. She also said the women claimed the vest wouldn’t detonate.

Suicide bombings by women and girls have become increasingly common in Iraq this year, as Al Qaeda and other insurgent forces look for ways to get the explosives beyond checkpoints without being searched.

Female suicide bombers attacked Shi’ite pilgrims in July, killing dozens. Many attacks by female suicide bombers have taken place in Diyala. U.S. military officials say the number of female bombers has more than tripled from eight in 2007 to 29 this year.

"The surrender of the suicide bomber indicates that the Iraqis are continuing to reject Al Qaeda and its practices," said U.S. military spokesman Major Jon Pendell.

Read more about: Iraq, News, Terror
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6 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Lucinda Herbert

I feel enormous empathy for these poor young people who are brainwashed and coerced into carrying out these missions.They should extradite her quickly because she’ll surely be extinguished if she’s released in Iraq.

By Lucinda Herbert on 08/25/2008 1:39 pm
Bonnie Oliver

To parade the young girl before the news cameras and to have her story told time and again is cruel. Yet, how many other young Iraqi women will hear Rania’s story and know that one girl refused to die or to kill and maybe they too can find that courage within themselves. The cruelty is with Al Qaeda.

I also agree with Lucinda that Rania should be removed from Iraq immediately. Her life is worth nothing to her coercers. They will kill her for revenge if nothing else.

By Bonnie Oliver on 08/25/2008 5:50 pm
Maurine H

Yes, Bonnie, I agree that Rania needs to get out of Iraq. With her picture plastered everywhere, even here, I’m sure there’s a price on her head and she cannot safely remain in Iraq. I hope we can eventually hear that she is safely living in another country with another identity. Like you, I hope that other Iraqis, both women and men, will reconsider martyring themselves after learning about Rania’s courageous act.

By Maurine H on 08/27/2008 4:57 pm
Frank Peterson

This is where the terrorist sare drawing their bombers from—It’s very well documented and frightening—thank to the girl who turned herself in rather than see more people slaughtered. She does need safe keeping out of Iran—I agree completely, Lucinda.

By Frank Peterson on 08/25/2008 6:28 pm
Karl Clark

It angers me that grown men and women would use children as a tool for destruction; to have them violently destroy themselves for an evil cause. It angers me that the vast majority of Muslims believes this act as noble and supports the behavior. It saddens my heart to know in my heart that people lives are snuffed in their prime. We would never know how great many of these individuals are. We would never know what positive contributions they would provide to their city, their country, or the world.

Many have told me that Islam personified as peace. Explain to me how when men torture their women and treat them as trash to throw stones in so-called honor killings. I see Islam as full of weak men willing to transpose their will forcefully in a collective. Tragic! Islam has a rich history - a rich culture. But in today’s time, Islam is full of weakness that would rather behave as a spoil brat. Shameful!

Yet, I am hopeful that the bright spots in Islam will soon shine brighter and convince their brothers and sisters to embrace the world…and allow the world, the entire world, embrace it.

To those of the Islamic faith, take control of your faith. Express that what is Islam…peace. Show the world that Islam is part of this wonderful world. The world needs you to be a part of the world, not against her. We need you to share with us, that wonderful entity call Islam. And to share that entity with other faiths. Please do not destroy your future with this heinous act towards your own people with a goal to destroy those unlike minds.

By Karl Clark on 08/25/2008 11:06 pm
Susan B

Dear God.

By Susan B on 08/28/2008 12:20 pm
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