Region | Iraq
Iraqi teenage girl quits suicide bomb bid and surrenders
A 13-year-old Iraqi girl wearing a vest packed with explosives turned herself in rather than go through with a suicide bombing in a violence-torn city north of Baghdad, the US military said.
- Agencies
- Published: 15:06 August 25, 2008
Baghdad: Iraqi police questioned a teenage girl detained after she turned herself in rather than go through with a suicide bombing.
The 13-year-old Iraqi girl was wearing a vest packed with explosives when she surrendered to police on Sunday in Baqouba, capital of Iraq's Diyala province.
She was still wearing the vest, which police had to remove before detaining her.
Police distributed videos of the arrest and public interrogation to the media on Monday.
"Reports are that she approached the IPs [Iraqi police] saying she had the vest on and didn't want to go through with it," said US military spokesman Lieutenant Commander David Russell.
Russel said authorities are reviewing whether the girl was forced to put on the vest or if she did it voluntarily.
Suicide bomb attacks by women and girls have become increasingly common in Iraq this year. US forces say Al Qaida Sunni Arab militants favour female bombers because they can escape detection by police reluctant to search women.
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