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Sunday, April 26, 2009

Al Qaida women responsible for recent apate of mass-casualty attacks in Iraq

BAGHDAD — The U.S. military has reported that Al Qaida's success in mass-casualty attacks on "innocent civilians" rests with its new women recruits.   

Officials said the U.S. military has attributed the spate of Al Qaida mass-casualty strikes in Baghdad and Diyala to the recruitment of dozens of women. They said the women were trained in suicide missions that included the use of children.

"That's what we have to continue to go after," U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. Raymond Odierno, said.

Nearly 200 people have been killed in a spate of suicide bombings in late April in the provinces of Baghdad, Diyala and Nineveh, Middle East Newsline reported. The bloodiest of the attacks, which targeted Shi'ites, were conducted by Iraqi women.

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On April 23, an Al Qaida woman operative, holding the hand of a child, detonated her suicide belt. The following day, two more women blew themselves up as they left mosque after Friday prayers.

"Because the security has improved so much, the Iraqis are trying to make it easier to have freedom of movement in Baghdad," Odierno said on April 24. "[Terrorists] take advantage of that."

The Al Qaida attacks have continued despite the reported capture of Islamic State of Iraq commander Abu Omar Al Baghdadi. Officials said the identity of the purported commander has not been verified.

On April 25, the Iraqi Interior Ministry reported the killing of an unidentified leader of the Islamic State of Iraq. The ministry said the leader was killed in the Sunni city of Faluja.

Odierno said the Al Qaida strikes have targeted ordinary Iraqis. The general said the attack on April 23 killed people who were collecting food for needy families.

"They are going after very innocent civilians, and frankly, the Iraqi people won't accept it," Odierno said.

The Al Qaida campaign has been termed the bloodiest and most sustained since 2007. Despite intensified, U.S.-Iraqi operations, Al Qaida has succeeded in conducting suicide bombings nearly every day for the last two months in an effort to spark a Sunni-Shi'ite war.

Over the last two days, about 150 people have been killed in the suicide bombings. Many of them were identified as pilgrims from Iran, which has closed its border with Iraq.

"The important thing is that the Iraqis are not talking about sectarian violence," Odierno said. "They are talking about rejecting the individuals who are conducting the attacks. Al Qaida is not getting the response they want."

Officials said Al Qaida was strongest in the cities of Baghdad, Baquba and Mosul. They said Al Qaida has been operating with much smaller cells than in 2007.

"But they are small and decentralized," Odierno said.



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