Free Republic

BAGHDAD -- Insurgents, who have increasingly turned to women to stage suicide bombings, on Tuesday used a man dressed as a woman in a failed assassination attempt on a provincial governor. The target, Gov. Raad Tamimi of Diyala province, escaped unharmed. But at least one other person was killed and several were wounded when the bomber's vest exploded near the governor's convoy. The use of the man in disguise appeared designed to give the attacker easier access to his target. It was the second suicide bomb attack in two days in Baqubah, the capital of Diyala. On Monday, a 15-year-old...

Afghan soldiers have captured a Taliban leader who tried to flee a security operation in the south dressed in a burqa, NATO said on Wednesday. Tuesday's capture in Kandahar province came as NATO launched a major offensive in neighbouring Helmand to secure a key hydroelectric dam and combat the opium trade. The man was named as Mullah Mahmood and described as an expert bomb-maker. U.S.-led coalition forces also detained five more suspected militants in eastern Khost this week. Fighting is expected to be heavy in 2007 after the bloodiest year since the Taliban's ouster in 2001. The Taliban warn they...