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U.S. kills recruiter of women suicide bombers

Thursday, February 21, 2008 Free Headline Alerts

BAGHDAD — The U.S.-led coalition has killed an Al Qaida operative said to have recruited women for suicide bombings in Iraq.

Officials said Arkan Khalaf Khudayyir was killed during an operation in the Diyala province in mid-February. They said Khudayyir, also known as Abu Karrar, was a senior intelligence leader responsible for sending women suicide bombers in attacks in Baghdad in late 2007 and early 2008.

On Feb. 1, two Iraqi women were sent to blow themselves up in northeastern Baghdad in which nearly 100 people were killed, Middle East Newsline reported. At first, the U.S. military said the women had been diagnosed with Down Syndrome, and their bombs were detonated by remote control.

But on Wednesday, U.S. military spokesman Rear Adm. Gregory Smith said the women — one of whom was married — had undergone psychiatric treatment but were not diagnosed as having Down syndrome. Smith said neither of the women had a criminal record.

"Both had recently received psychiatric treatment for depression and/or schizophrenia," Smith said. "From what we know now there's no indication that they had Down syndrome."

"Iraqi and coalition forces will relentlessly pursue terrorist leaders like Abu Karrar who plan al Qaeda's indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians," U.S. military spokesman Maj. Winfield Danielson said on Wednesday.

Abu Karrar was killed on Feb. 17 as he tried to flee his vehicle at a military roadblock. Iraqi and U.S. soldiers fired and killed Abu Karrar and an associate.

Officials said Al Qaida was increasingly using women as suicide bombers, particularly in the Baghdad region. They said women often achieved greater access to their targets than male attackers.

Iraqi authorities have sought to remove the homeless from the streets of Baghdad to prevent Al Qaida from using them as bombers. Officials said police were ordered to remove beggars, homeless and mentally retarded people from the Iraqi capital as well as other cities.

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