Iraq: Woman arrested after recruiting female bombers

A woman suspected of recruiting more than 80 female suicide bombers has been arrested, the Iraqi military said Tuesday, dealing a major blow to one of the most effective forms of attacks in Iraq.

The woman – who was identified as Samira Ahmed Jassim or by her nickname “Umm al-Mu’mineen,” which means the mother of believers – was shown confessing in a video played for reporters at a press conference in Baghdad.

Dressed in an all-encompassing black Islamic robe, she described how she would persuade the women to be bombers, then escort them to an orchard for insurgent training and finally pick them up and lead them to their targets.

She said she was acting on behalf of insurgents based in the volatile Diyala province, north of Baghdad.

Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the suspect had recruited more than 80 women willing to carry out attacks and admitted masterminding 28 bombings in different areas.

The number of bombings carried out by women has spiked even as overall violence has declined, and U.S. commanders have warned that insurgents are actively trying to find more recruits.

The U.S. and Iraqi militaries have made past claims about efforts by insurgents to recruit vulnerable women and children as attackers while providing little evidence, including statements that two women who blew themselves up last year in Baghdad had Down’s syndrome that later proved to be exaggerated.