Iraq militants turn to women for suicide attacks

The tightening noose — at least for now — appears to be prompting the militants to turn to female attackers, Rashwan said, noting that extremist Muslim groups use women only when they see no alternative.

"Women should be in the last rows" of fighting, he said. "So to see women (suicide bombers) shows an abnormal situation — the absence of men."

Fighting in other causes
Women have acted as suicide bombers for other causes. The first known female suicide bomber was Sana Mheidali, a Lebanese who killed two Israeli soldiers in 1985. Female Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka have carried out at least 60 suicide bombings in 24 years. Palestinian Muslim militants send out women suicide bombers, as does the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has waged a guerrilla war since 1984 for autonomy in Turkey's southeast.

Because of Muslim cultural sensitivities, women can be excellent candidates for suicide attacks when there are no female security guards. Most Iraqis are conservative Muslims who believe physical contact is forbidden between women and men not related by blood or marriage. As a result, women are often allowed to pass through male-guarded checkpoints without being searched. In October, the U.S. Army trained 20 women to work as security guards in a Baghdad suburb after a female suicide bomber entered a nearby building without being searched.

"We know it's a tactic that al-Qaida in Iraq is trying to use," Bacon said.

At least twice in December and once in August, al-Qaida members suspected of training women to use suicide belts were captured, the U.S. military has said. There are no military reports before August indicating suspicion of al-Qaida in Iraq training women attackers.

Variety of influences
Some female bombers appear to be motivated by revenge, like the woman who killed 15 people in Diyala province on Dec. 7. She was a former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath party whose two sons joined al-Qaida in Iraq and were killed by Iraqi security forces.

But other women may be ideologues, just like their male counterparts, said Mohammad Hafiz, a University of Missouri professor who focuses on Muslim extremism.

Still others are influenced by relatives and spouses, "especially those dependent on them emotionally or materially," Hafiz said.

One of them, Sajida al-Rishawi, was married to a suicide bomber. The Iraqi woman tried unsuccessfully to detonate her explosives belt in an Amman, Jordan hotel on Nov. 9. 2005. Her husband and their other accomplices succeeded in blowing themselves up, however. Three hotels were bombed, and 60 people were killed.

Although use of women can be a sign of desperation, female suicide bombers also help extremist groups attract male recruits. Militants exploit the image of desperate women fighting because there aren't enough brave men, taunting would-be male suicide bombers into action, Hafiz said.

"Women," Hafiz said, "make great propaganda."

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