Female suicide bombers are women who undertake suicide attacks. Suicide bombers are normally viewed as male political radicals, but since the 1960s, female suicide attacks have been on the rise. Through 1985–2006, 15% of all suicide attacks were conducted by female suicide bombers.Davis, Jessica. "Evolution of The Global Jihad: Female Suicide Bombers in Iraq". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 36.4 (2013): 279–291. Academic Search Complete. Web November 16, 2015.
There are many organizations, such as Boko Haram (which is the first group to use women in a majority of their suicide bombings and surpassed the Tamil Tigers in using more female suicide bombers than any other terrorist group in history), Al-Shabaab, ISIS and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, that recently started using women as tools in their attacks, since they are normally viewed as less of a threat than their male counterparts. This includes women having the element of surprise, a hesitancy to search women, increased publicity for female suicide bombing attacks, and the female stereotype as non-violent.
Research shows that female suicide bombers tend to replace depleted male cadres and tend to exhibit little active participation or inadequate training. An analysis of suicide attacks over the period 1985-2017 finds that female suicide bombers inflict fewer fatalities than their male counterparts.
Background Women have an extensive and complex history in political violence. While the typical terrorist of the 1960s tended to be an educated male from an upper-middle-class background, many left-wing terrorist groups in the 1960s and 1970s had prominent women active within these groups. Ulrike Meinhof, a German left-wing terrorist and journalist, co-founded the Red Army Faction and participated in a range of bombings and bank robberies. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)'s Leila Khaled is considered to be the first woman to hijack an airplane, drawing international attention. Fusako Shigenobu founded and led the Japanese Red Army, a communist militant group that conducted hijackings and massacres. A number of Italian women were active in Italian terrorist organizations between 1970 and 1984. Women played fundamental roles in Puerto Rican nationalist movements such as the Puerto Rican Armed Forces of National Liberation (FLAN) and the Boricua Popular Army (Los Macheteros), two groups designated as terrorist organizations. Women served visible roles in American groups, such as the Symbionese Liberation Army. Women also served as mobilizing agents for Weather Underground, recruiting people into the organization. Women have been more active in left-wing groups as these groups' ideologies tend to be more conducive to women's participation in combatant and other non-traditional roles.
Organizations have differing stances on female suicide bombers. For example, in 2002, the spiritual leader of Hamas "categorically renounced the use of women as suicide bombers". In early 2002, he reported that "Hamas was far from enthusiastic about the inclusion of women in warfare, for reasons of modesty." This stance shifted in 2004, when the first female suicide bomber was used. Officials exclaimed that the act was a "significant evolution in our fight. The male fighters face many obstacles ... women are like the reserve army―when there is a necessity, we use them." The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam attracted thousands of women and their militarization shaped women's identity from the "traditional ideal of the auspicious, fecund wife to the androgynous Armed Virgin". Rajini Thiranagama stated, "One cannot but be inspired when one sees the women of the LTTE in the night with their AKs slung over the shoulder. ... One cannot but admire the dedication and toughness of their training. ... One could see the nationalist fervor and the romantic vision of women in arms defending the nation."
Characteristics of female suicide bombers There is much variation among female suicide bombers. A number of studies have attempted to compare suicide attackers across different suicide groups. It was found that groups that used women the least were Islamist fundamentalist groups. When dealing with age, female suicide bombers followed the same age trend as men, typically falling within the early to mid 20s. They also tend to have more secular ties than presumed. Some are married while others are widows. Socioeconomic status also varies among female attackers.
Women's involvement is mediated differently than men's; they are more likely to be involved through personal contacts or family members, while men's process of involvement is more likely to stem from movement affiliation and disenchantment with nonviolent forms of political activism. Differences in men and women's need for revenge (and subsequent use of suicide attacks) has been studied, with inconsistent findings reported. Some argue men are more vengeful than women, while others find no such claims.
Examples In 1780, an Indian woman named Kuyili applied ghee and oil onto her body and set herself ablaze. She then jumped into an armoury of the East India Company, causing it to explode. This suicide attack helped to secure victory for her queen, Velu Nachiyar, in the battle to secure freedom for Sivaganga.Remembering Queen Velu Nachiyar of Sivagangai, the first queen to fight the British. The News Minute. 3 January 2017 In a meeting about ways to assassinate General Evelyn Barker, the British Army commander in Mandatory Palestine, a young woman volunteered to do the assassination as a suicide bombing. They refer to it as a "" proposal () as a reference to the words of Samson in (Judges 16:30), or a "Samson option". On that occasion other members of the group allegedly rejected her offer. She also had a physical disability that might have made her unable to carry out the plan the group had in mind. The Lehi memorialize her among their martyrs and fallen combatants (), but her cause of death is not described. Sana'a Mehaidli, a 16-year-old member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP/PPS), a pro-Syrian Lebanese organization, is believed to have been the first female suicide bomber. On 9 April 1985, she blew up herself and a truck of explosives next to an Israeli convoy in Lebanon during the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon. She worked at a video store where she recorded her will, saying "I am very comfortable with carrying out this operation. I choose to do this because I am fulfilling my duty towards my land and my people ... Now I am loving my country, sacrificing my life and respecting the people of the south". Thenmozhi Rajaratnam (born Kalaivani Rajaratnam; soubriquet: "Dhanu") is thought to have been a member of the Tamil militant organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka, was involved in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India, and sixteen other bystanders in 1991. She had allegedly been raped by Indian Peace Keeping Force soldiers and her four brothers were killed. The LTTE unit known as the Black Tigers committed suicide bombing attacks, most of which were done by women. A female suicide bomber attempted to kill Sri Lanka's Army Commander Sarath Fonseka in 2006. Fonseka survived, but seven others were killed in the attack. Sri Lanka's Fisheries Minister and former militant Douglas Devananda was the target of a female suicide bomber in 2007. She detonated the bomb during a body check. Wafa Idris detonated a 22-pound bomb in the center of Jerusalem outside a shoe store on Jaffa Road, killing herself and Pinhas Tokatli (81), and injuring more than 100 others.Inigo Gilmore: Woman suicide bomber shakes Israelis, The Daily Telegraph, 28 January 2002 The attack took place on 27 January 2002 but the identity of the bomber was not confirmed until 30 January 2002. Idris carried the bomb in a backpack, rather than strapped to her body. Since, prior to this attack, women had only helped plant bombs, the use of a backpack and the lack of the usual note or video led to confusion regarding her suicide motives and speculation that she did not intend to detonate the bomb, but that the explosion was accidental. However, after investigation of the explosion, Israel declared Idris a suicide bomber around 9 February 2002.James Bennet: Israelis Declare Arab Woman Was in Fact a Suicide Bomber, The New York Times, 9 February 2002 (req. subscr.) Prior to this Idris called for an "Army of Roses". She served under Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. Wafa was born in a refugee camp, and her father died when she was a child. During the First Intifada, she served on the refugee camp's women's committee, helping prisoners' families and distributing food. When she delivered a stillborn and was told she would never be able to carry a baby to full-term, her husband divorced her. Muriel Degauque was a Belgian convert to Islam who died in a suicide car bomb attack on 9 November 2005 against a U.S. military convoy in Iraq. One soldier was wounded. She originally worked at a bakery and after marrying a Muslim man, she moved to Iraq and became radicalized. Zeynep Kınacı was a Kurdish member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and known for having committed its 1996 Tunceli bombing. The 2010 Moscow Metro bombings were suicide bombings carried out by two female Islamist terrorists from the Caucasus during the morning rush hour of March 29, 2010, at two stations of the Moscow Metro (Lubyanka and Park Kultury), with roughly 40 minutes in between. At least 40 people were killed, and over 100 injured. The women were identified as Dzhennet Abdurakhmanova and Mariam Sharipova.Militant behind Moscow metro blasts killed. Sify.com (21 August 2010). Retrieved 27 January 2011. On 14 February 2011, a female suicide bomber killed a Russian serviceman and wounded four others at a Dagestan police station in Gubden, a village around 150 km (100 miles) south of the provincial capital of Makhachkala. Blasts from two female suicide bombers at a crowded fish market in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri killed at least 20 people on 22 June 2015. On 23 December 2016, the first female suicide bomber in Bangladesh detonated her explosive during a police raid while holding her 7-year-old daughter in one hand and chanting: "We will go to heaven! We will go to heaven!" She was identified as Jebunnahar Islam Shila. In 2018, in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, a Muslim family, composed of three men (father Dita Oepriarto and sons Firman and Yusuf, aged 15 and 17) and three women (mother Puji Kuswati, Indonesia's first female suicide bomber, and daughters Famela and Fadhila, aged 8 and 12), died carrying out bombings at three Catholic and Christian churches, killing 12 people and injuring at least 40.Indonesia: Surabaya terrorism, nytimes.com, May 18, 2018.Surabaya church bombings: what we know so far, thejakartapost.com. May 13, 2018. Accessed January 3, 2024.Indonesia attacks: Surabaya, cnn.com. May 13, 2018. Accessed January 3, 2024. On 26 April 2022, Shari Baloch, a 30-year-old science teacher and mother of two, detonated her explosives in the University of Karachi in Pakistan, killing three Chinese teachers. The separatist militant group Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the incident, claiming her as the organisation's first female suicide bomber.
Causes and reasons