London's Daily Mail reports that the girl, whose first name is Rania, was given the bomb and told to wait outside the school in Baqouba on August 24 for further instructions. Appearing drugged and dazed, she insists she was not trying to stage a suicide attack. She told police she was outfitted with the vest by female relatives of her husband. Police said her father was a suicide bomber; her mother and one of her sisters were later arrested, but it's not clear why.
The story changes. American sources say the girl turned herself into police after she was outfitted with the suicide vest against her will. Rania led the officers to the location where she was given the explosives where they found a second bomb belt in an empty apartment. She later insisted she didn't know who gave her the vest. "I swear to Allah that I do not know them. They were strangers," she is heard saying on a video of her arrest, although she later said that "one of the women's names was maybe Fadhila and the other was called Widad." When the police further questioned her as to whether she knew who put the vest on her, Rania said, "Yes." She claims she did not intend to blow herself up, but she later contradicted that statement by telling police how she was shown to work the vest's two detonators. The number of women carrying out suicide attacks in Iraq has more than tripled in 12 months, going from eight in 2007 to 29 (so far) in 2008.
What cops know that you don't: How to react in case of a suicide bomber.
