Some female Al Qaida operatives bailing on their suicide missions
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 Free Headline Alerts
BAGHDAD — Not all Al Qaida women agents trained for suicide missions in Iraq are fully on board. Some have an exit strategy.
U.S. military officials said Al Qaida women operatives have been negotiating with Iraqi authorities for their surrender. The women were said to have been urged by their families and Sunni clerics in northern Iraq to end insurgency activities.
"The fact that so many potential women suicide bombers turned themselves in shows remarkable solidarity as the people of Iraq continue to turn the tide against Al Qaida and their barbaric methods," Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling, the commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, said.
"They were persuaded by their mullahs and fathers to cease their training in suicide operations and reconcile."
On Nov. 27, the U.S. military reported the surrender of 18 women operatives of Al Qaida in northern Iraq. A military statement said the women have signed a pledge never to return to Al Qaida or insurgency activities.
"They took the first step in reconciliation by turning themselves in and signing a reconciliation pledge," the military said.
The surrender of the women has not prevented Al Qaida suicide strikes in Iraq. On Dec. 1, at least 32 people were killed in a series of bombings in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul. One of the targets was a police academy in the Iraqi capital.
In 2008, Al Qaida, conducting more than 25 operations, increased its use of women for suicide attacks. Most of the women were assigned to blow up themselves and their targets in the Diyala province north of Baghdad.
For several months, officials said, the U.S. military and Iraqi government had sought to negotiate the surrender of Al Qaida women operatives. In August 2008, an Iraqi teenager laden with explosives surrendered to police before she reached her target in Diyala.
The government has established a program to allow insurgents to surrender and become eligible for full pardon. The program, termed "Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration," was said to have had mixed results in Sunni insurgency strongholds such as the provinces of Diyala and Nineveh.