The Islamic State Group (ISIS) is undeniably synonymous with violence and terror, but the tragic event that recently shook the whole world proves another atrocious fact – terrorism is bent on deploying a new tactic, this time involving women.
On Monday morning, two female suicide bombers targeted Iraqi forces in Mosul, killing one soldier. Several others were injured, with the Associated Press reporting the women were camouflaged among a group of civilians, while Iraqi forces and the U.S.-led coalition unleashed punishing airstrikes and artillery fire that set dozens of buildings ablaze.
Although consistent in their efforts of wreaking havoc, ISIS had lost major of control of their territories. Iraqi troops have reclaimed most of the ISIS-laden areas and this fact has caused the terrorist group to use a tactic that’s actually been reported before.
In an interview with AP, Sgt. Ali Abdullah Hussein said female suicide bombers are the latest approach to causing terror. “They appeared from the basement (of a building) and they blew themselves up,” Hussein commented on ISIS’ Monday attack.
Female Jihadists and their motivations
Before Monday’s terror attack, female suicide bombers were relatively uncommon, although they have been existing for years now. Dr. Mordechai Kedar, a senior lecturer in the Department of Arabic at Bar-Ilan University, said in February that he had been surprised to discover that the perpetrator of an explosion in the bus in which he was traveling was a woman.
Kedar, who has been with the IDF Military Intelligence for more than two decades, shared his observations during the launch of the book titled “Women and Jihad” by Rachel Avraham at the Begin Heritage Center. In one of his talks, his raises the point in which women blowing themselves up goes against the grain Islamic society.
Women could cause even greater evil
So what’s pushing women into the waters once exclusively waded by men? It’s actually no different from the extreme beliefs male suicide bombers hold – that they would meet Allah along with other martyrs in their paradise. Except, when the act is committed by a woman, it somehow shames Palestinian men, resulting to men committing even greater violence.
In Avraham’s book, she wrote that female suicide bombers get more media attention than their male counterparts. She pointed out that each terroristic act is not random and that they are all planned, and that one of its aims is to attract publicity. Without attention from the media, it’s as if the vile attack never happened.
According to Time, approximately 600 Western women have been recruited by ISIS, but the amount is far greater with non-Western women. In Tunisia alone, over 700 female Jihadists have joined the Islamic State group. It's now feared that more civilian women are being brainwashed, forced or cajoled into killing themselves for IS.
