QandO

August 31, 2004

Third Chechen Woman linked to third terror attack in Russia
Posted by McQ

We had two Russian aircraft blown out of the sky by terrorists a week ago. In both cases, Chechen women are suspected of the terrorist acts.

It appears that today in Moscow a third Chechen woman commited a terrorist act almost to the hour when the previous attacks occured:

A woman strapped with explosives blew herself up outside a busy Moscow subway station Tuesday night, killing at least 10 people and wounding more than 50 — the second terrorist attack to hit Russia in a week.

We've seen the occasional use of women among the Palestinians in the role of suicide bombers, but its not been prevalent elsewhere ... until now.

Obviously scrutiny of Muslim women in general and Chechen women in particular is going to heighten, especially in Russia.

But I wonder, given the fundametalism of al-Queda and its apparent fundamentalist Islamic view of the role of women, whether that would ever be something they'duse in future operations?

Suicide bombings blamed on Chechen secessionists have struck Moscow and other parts of Russia over the past several years. In February, 41 people were killed in a rush-hour explosion on the Moscow subway that officials said was a terrorist attack; in December a female suicide bomber blew herself up outside a hotel adjacent to Red Square, killing five other people.

Many of the Chechen female suicide bombers are believed to be so-called "black widows," who have lost husbands or male relatives in the fighting.

No doubt Iraq and Afghanistan will produce more than a few "black widows". The question is, will fundamentalist Arab terrorists ever try to use them?

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