Terrorists turn to female suicide bombers in new trend

On July 24th of this year, a female suicide bomber went to a security meeting held at the offices of the mayor of Mogadishu Abdirahman Omar Osman and committed suicide by killing seven people and wounding several others.

Al-Shabab terrorists claimed responsibility for the attack, telling local media that the UN envoy to Somalia, James Swan, who had left the building at the time of the attack, was their target. Mr. Osman was seriously injured in the blast and died later in Qatar, where he was being treated.

This was the fourth time Al-Shabaab had used a woman in a suicide bombing. Now, the frequency with which it deploys women in their attacking missions worries the regional security agencies.

Not only do they worry about the high rate of recruitment of young women educated by the al-Qaeda affiliated group, but they are also wary of the high-level positions it confers on them in the movement. insurrection.

A confidential file on Kenya's security seen by the Sunday Nation reveals that the jihadist organization increasingly entrusts young women with a leading role in the conduct of intelligence operations and attacks, as they are less likely to attract the 39; attention. It is currently believed that a significant number of women are undergoing training in Somalia, some in Kenya

"Police sources reported that Al-Shabaab was training women to be deployed as facilitators, logistician and even abusers in Somalia, Kenya and other countries. "East Africa," says the safety report.

Previously, it was generally thought that women were mainly recruited by Al-Shabaab as fighters' husbands and had to cook and clean the militant camps.

However, more and more women are now baduming a greater role in active fighting, intelligence gathering, planning, coordination and the execution of attacks, according to the intelligence report.

Police Inspector General Hillary Mutyambai said Saturday that security agencies were in a state of alert.

"We are aware that Al-Shabaab is changing course and is increasingly using women as facilitators and spies, not just as brides for fighters. More and more women are being trained in higher roles for men, "he said.

The IG said it should "sound the alarm for security agencies and the public to be on the lookout".

He added that the police had been properly informed about this but had asked private security guards with various facilities to ensure that they conduct a thorough review. "

Kenya's security report adds that some of the women need to be deployed to make friends with government officials, identify security breaches and report back to al-Shabaab for planning its attacks.

The latest high-profile case concerned Violet Kemunto, wife of Ali Salim Gichunge, aka Farouk, the mastermind of the DusitD2 hotel complex attack in January of this year.

Kemunto is thought to have facilitated the well-being of Gichunge and his attacking comrades. Police believe that she escaped to Somalia on the day of the attack, which caused 20 deaths.

Another accomplice, Miriam Abdi, who allegedly played a central role in the delivery of deadly weapons used during the attack is still at large.

The new Al-Shabaab tendency to recruit an alarming number of women into their ranks is mainly due to the fact that women have less trouble raising suspicions when they undertake terrorist activities.

"Unlike men, women are viewed by society as less violent and can escape the control of security agents," said the security brief.

Al-Shabaab's first case of using a female suicide bomber was in June 2011, when Somali Interior Minister Abdishakur Sheikh Hbadan was killed by his teenage niece in a suicide bombing at her home.

This was the first ever suicide bombing by a woman in Somalia and would set a precedent for the group to deploy more and more women in their campaign of terror in the region.

The use of a kamikaze woman was a rare and surprising initiative of this group that used mainly fighters and suicide bombers to carry out attacks in Kenya and other East African countries. It seems that the trend is on the rise.

In September 2016, three women – Tasmin Yaqub, Maimuna Abdirahman and Ramla Abdirahman – wandered into the central police station in Mombasa dressed casually and went to the counter as if they had reported an incident.

Unsuspecting service officers invited them to present their cases. It was at that time that one of the women appeared and attacked the officers with a dagger while the other two attempted to fire the station with gasoline bombs. In the tumult that followed, the women were shot.

Investigations revealed that Tasmin – the brain of the attack – was a member of the Islamic State who had claimed responsibility for the attack. His alleged badailants, Sisters Maimuna and Ramla, attended the Ainaba Madrasa as well as Markoz Noor's Madrasah at the Sparki Mosque in Mombasa where they studied religion.

The bold front attack of the three women at the police station left many Kenyans perplexed, with few of them expecting women to take an active role in leading the attacks.

"The women were used as couriers and spies by the terrorist group because they were difficult to suspect and could easily escape security checkpoints and controls," the intelligence service said.

According to security badyst George Musamali, women are particularly motivated by the romantic notion of the lives of extremists, their honor and praise, as well as the wife, widow or mother of a mujahideen.

This has led many women to be lured into jihadist theaters. The most notable case is that of Khadija Abubakar Ahmed, Mariam Said Aboud, Halima Adan and Ummulkheir Sadri Abdalla, famously known as "AlShababes".

The four women – all university students – were arrested in El Wak in March 2015 because they were suspected of trying to cross the Somali border to join the insurgency group.

Security agencies believe the trio was recruited online by Halima Adan Ali, a notorious recruiter and financial facilitator for Al-Shabaab and the Islamic State.

Police said that the young woman had been helped in her aborted mission by Haniya Sagar, the fiery wife of Muslim cleric Aboud Rogo, who was shot dead by unidentified people in August 2012.

Haniya and three other people were accused in 2016 of having participated in terrorist activities. She was jailed for 10 years in February 2018, but was released on appeal in October.

Maryam died last May while their case was underway. His three alleged accomplices, Khadija, Halima and Ummulkheir, were released by a court in Mombasa in February this year on the grounds that the prosecution failed to prove 20 terrorism-related charges.

While women have fallen under the spell of international jihadism, reports of those who have escaped the clutches of the militant group paint a picture of the suffering, badual abuse and violence that women face at the hands of combatants.

"The women indicate that they are forcibly married to several men after their husbands have been killed in the war and this cycle continues," said the intelligence services report.

"Many women are now asking for help to return from Somalia after a hell in this war-torn country," he added.

Recruits are also used to managing funding mechanisms that facilitate insurgency activities. For example, Nuseiba Hajji Osman, aka Umm Fidaa, aka Ummulxarb, is the wife of the key Islamic State politician in the region, Mohamed Ali, aka Abu Fidaa.

Local participants add to the growing number of international women who have joined the dark world of global terrorism and have redefined their roles from victims to active agents.

In front of them, Samantha Lewthwaite, mother of the United Kingdom and mother of a beautiful face, nicknamed the "white widow", had captivated the imagination of the world after her arrival at Al-Shabaab.