The last thing that seven Iraqi policemen at a checkpoint in Ramadi in late July saw was a woman approaching them. Seconds later, she detonated her explosives vest, killing herself and everybody else at the site. Just two weeks earlier in Pakistan, some would-be female suicide bombers were less successful in martyring themselves. When government forces stormed Islamabad's Red Mosque, several women were among the die-hards hoping to make a stand. "We wanted to carry out suicide attacks . . . but we didn't have sufficient explosives," one woman later regretfully told the BBC.
Surprised? Don't be. Female participation in jihadist groups and operations has grown alarmingly in recent years. And unless we come to terms with the phenomenon, female Islamist militants might be an important part of our future.
Islamic puritans used to uphold a strong taboo against women's active participation in the holy struggle. In al-Qaeda's training camps in Taliban-run Afghanistan, wives were kept segregated from men, and the women's primary role was to groom their sons to follow their fathers. Moreover, many al-Qaeda members are rabid misogynists; just recall the will of the lead 9/11 hijacker, Muhammad Atta, which insisted that no women attend his funeral or visit his grave.
But since September 2001, women have become increasingly involved in Islamist terrorism. The most important underlying factor behind this troubling new trend is the jihadists' deepening sense that they are engaged in a total war against the United States and the Muslim regimes it supports. Remember, Osama bin Laden used to be a relatively lonely voice, arguing that Islam was facing an existential struggle to defend itself from the aggressive United States.
Excerpted
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/09/AR2007080900676.html
Musharraf to Address Jirga
12 August 2007
ISLAMABAD — Pakistani helicopter gunships launched new assaults yesterday on Al-Qaeda and Taleban hideouts in the mountainous northwest as President Pervez Musharraf prepared to address a peace summit in Kabul.
Cobra helicopters killed three suspected militants, pounding what was believed to be their base after a firefight yesterday in Mir Ali town in North Waziristan tribal district, the military said. “A security convoy was passing when an improvised explosive device planted by militants exploded, causing no harm to the security personnel,” chief military spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said. “Armed miscreants then attacked security men with automatic weapons that injured a soldier. “In retaliatory firing by helicopters three miscreants were killed,” Arshad said.
The continuing violence in the tribal area comes amid a joint tribal gathering organized by Pakistan and the Afghan government in Kabul to discuss ways to counter the Al-Qaeda and Taleban threat. Musharraf canceled his trip on Thursday to the inaugural session of the “peace jirga,” which is being attended by around 700 tribal elders from the border regions. The jirga is scheduled to end today and the foreign ministry in Islamabad said late Friday the president had agreed “in principle” to address the closing session.
Excerpted
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=99697&d=12&m=8&y=2007
Article Snippet from your post regarding New Face of Terror.
“Surprised?”
Answer: No, I’m not surprised because jihad is evil. The face of
evil is both male and female.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1876782/posts?page=40#40
“...the apparent evacuation of 28 of the training camps along the country’s northern border with Afghanistan”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1879884/posts