Tamimi, a senior official in the Iraqi Office of Counter-Terrorism, said
Al Qaida has recruited an undetermined number of women for suicide bombings
in Baghdad and other cities. He said the network has established a special
unit for women agents and suicide bombers. The unit has been identified as
Harem Al Qaida.
"The renewal of women suicide attacks is linked to Al Qaida's
exploitation
of the psychological and social conditions in detention," Tamimi said in a
briefing on Feb. 2.
Officials said Al Qaida was believed to have recruited scores of women
for attack missions. They said women agents, exploiting the reluctance to
search female pedestrians, were sent to blow up military and police
checkpoints as well as target Shi'ite pilgrims.
In the latest attack, a female suicide bomber killed 54 Shi'ite pilgrims
in northern Baghdad on Feb. 1, Middle East Newsline reported. The woman has not yet been identified.
"We hold the Baathists and militants and their allies, from the sheiks
to
those with deviant opinions, responsible for the bloodshed," Prime Minister
Nouri Al Maliki said.
Officials said they expect additional women suicide strikes by Al Qaida
in the weeks toward national elections in March 2010. They said the Interior
Ministry was examining ways to prevent Al Qaida from recruiting women
prisoners.
"We must work to prevent the transformation of prisons into a factories
that produce suicide bombers," Tamimi said.