Woman suicide bomber marks possible new insurgent tactic in Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/iraq/20050928-1501-iraq.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The woman slipped into the town, passing checkpoints where women are not searched. Then, donning a man's "dishdasha" – a traditional white robe – and kaffiya headscarf, she blended in with the men waiting in line to join the Iraqi army.

She then set off the explosives strapped to her body, killing six would be recruits and wounding 35 – and sparking worries over a potentially dangerous new insurgent tactic.

The attack Wednesday in the northern town of Tal Afar, near the Syrian border 260 miles northwest of Baghdad, was the first successfully carried out by a female suicide bomber since Iraq's bloody insurgency began.

The move exploits a hole in security that is tough to fill, especially ahead of an upcoming referendum on the country's new constitution, in which men and women are expected to be lining up at the polls. Iraqi officials on Wednesday worried about having to step up searches of women at the numerous checkpoints that guard facilities across Iraq – a process that requires extra resources and irritates cultural sensitivities.

[bemildred]

1. Who could have predicted this?

:puke:

[Mandate My Ass]

2. Well then, I guess they shouldn't be allowed to vote.

It's not like their votes are going to count for anything when the new Islamic fundamentalist puppet government gains control of formerly secular Iraq. :eyes: