Iraqi Police Academy Attackers Not Women

This morning’s suicide bombers who killed 27 people at a Baghdad police academy were men, not women as had been widely reported.

Iraqi Police Academy Attackers Not Women, Officials Say (American Forces Press Service)

Contrary to an earlier report, two suicide bombers who killed at least 27 people and wounded at least 50 others today in a crowded courtyard at the Baghdad police academy were men, military officials reported. “An ongoing investigation indicates the bombers, earlier reported as females, were male,” a Multinational Force Iraq news release said.

Officials pointed out that suicide bombings by women have been rare in Iraq. Only two such bombings are known to have been carried out by women: one in September 2005 and another in 2003, officials said. The officials went on to note that the bombings were the worst violence for months in the Iraqi capital, where, they said, police officials are a favored target of Sunni Arab insurgents.

Odd that they’d have made the mistake initially. It’s true that women have been rare among Iraq’s suicide bombers, although the trend has otherwise been growing since the first such attack twenty years ago.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Eugene says:

    Is there any difference? Next will be kids – human resourses for terrorism are infinive and this is really terrible

  2. Steph says:

    These bombers aren’t even human in my opinion. They should stop including the bomber or bombers when they list human casualties. They are worthless pieces of garbage not even at the level of amoeba especially in terms of brains.

    You have to feel sorry for these women sometimes though. They are raped repeatedly and beaten daily by their men.

  3. Kent says:

    Is it so surprising that it took awhile to determine the sex of the bombers? Strapping a large quantity of explosive to your body and setting it off makes a real mess of your remains.

  4. Mikey says:

    Especially if they wore womens’ outer dress to conceal identities and the explosives.