When Samira Jossam told female rape victims that the only way they could redeem themselves and gain admittance into heaven was by carrying out a suicide bombing, what these women did not know is that Jossam actually helped to arrange the very act that damned them to this fate. Iraqi officials arrested Jossam on January 21 for her involvement in the Al-Qaeda-backed group Ansar Al-Sunna. Called the “Mother of the Believers”, Jossam is suspected of recruiting 80 female bombers and
confesses training and sending off 28 female bombers. Although violence has decreased in Iraq, female bombings increased drastically from eight in 2007 to 36 in 2008, demonstrating Jossam’s vast influence on this demographic. Women are often allowed through checkpoints without being searched due to cultural customs of modesty, traditional robes providing convenient and inconspicuous hiding places for weapons or bombs. The Iraqi military is beginning to post women guards at checkpoints in response to this spike in female bomb attacks.
