Posted by
Gabrielle Cusumano on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 12:13:49 PM
Police video captures - a teenage girl apparently planning to blow herself up in front of an Iraqi school."
"A policeman standing next to her could be heard saying that when she was picked up, she was initially unable to talk because she had been given drugs."
Pictured: The dramatic moment a 15-year-old Iraqi suicide bomber gave herself up
By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:50 AM on 26th August 2008
Tears streaming down her face, she is confronted by police - a teenage girl apparently planning to blow herself up in front of an Iraqi school.
The officers handcuffed her to a metal balustrade before moving in with extreme caution to uncover a vest full of explosives hidden under her colourful robe.
[...]
The girl - thought to be around 15 years old - later said that she was given the bomb and told to wait outside the school for further instructions.
In the footage, she denies trying to stage a suicide attack, and appears dazed, even drugged. She gave her first name as Rania and said she was born in 1993.
Her exchange with the police offered a rare glimpse at a teenager allegedly recruited by insurgents.
Explosives: The vest that the girl was wearing at the time of her arrest
However, it was not clear to what extent her answers were given out of fear - of the police, or even of her own family.
Police later said the vest contained about 33lb of explosives - Diyala police photo
Fox News Exclusive Interview With Teenage Would Be Bomber
She told Iraqi police her name was Rania, but she almost became No. 21 —
following 20 other young women who've turned their bodies into human bombs.
Iraqi insurgents use eight-year-old girl as suicide bomber
An eight-year-old girl was strapped with remote-controlled explosives and used as a human bomb by Iraqi insurgents in a blast that killed an Iraqi commander earlier today.
An Iraqi captain was killed and seven other soldiers were injured in the explosion which took place in the town of Youssifiyah, south of Baghdad.
The explosives were detonated as the girl approached the Iraqi commander.
A curfew has now been imposed in the area, and American troops are said to be hunting for those responsible.
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Iraqi soldiers inspect the site of a separate car bomb attack that targeted Abdul Karim al-Samarai, a member of Sunni Islamic political party in Baghdad's Yarmouk district today
"I can confirm that a female suicide bomber attacked an Iraqi Army position," said a U.S Army spokesman.
Involving women in fighting violates religious taboos in Iraq, but extremists are recruiting females and youths to stage suicide attacks in a desperate attempt to beat tightened security measures.
Women can avoid thorough searches at checkpoints because of Islamic sensitivities, and four have carried out suicide bombings since November.
In February, Iraqi insurgents used two women with Downs Syndrome as human bombs in a blast that killed 99 people in Baghdad.
The women were apparently fooled into wearing explosive vests which were then detonated remotely by mobile phones as they mingled with crowds.
It is unclear whether this latest blast used the same method for detonating the bomb.