The ‘Islamic State of Iraq’, a monicker used by a group purporting to be al-Qaeda’s branch in the country, has announced it has created a ‘brigade’ of women suicide bombers, a London-based Arab news agency reported Tuesday.
The militant group announced the unit’s creation through pamphlets distributed in several Sunni Muslim mosques and neighbourhoods of Baghdad, Quds Press reported.
“Verily a group of faithful women, consisting of mothers, wives and daughters of martyrs who were members of the Islamic State of Iraq, have formed the suicide bomber brigade al-Khansa” the message contained in the pamphlets said.
The brigade – whose name derives from a 7th Century AD Arab poetess and collaborator of the Prophet Mohammed – will launch its first suicide attack during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the pamphlets said.
The pamphlet ends with an appeal for other women to join the brigade and to sacrifice themselves as suicide bombers.
