Female Homicide Bomber Kills Eight in Iraq

She's the bomb.

The increasingly desperate terror goons are turning more to women to do their killing.

Just despicable.

BAGHDAD - A woman wearing a vest lined with explosives blew herself up near a popular market and Shiite mosque in turbulent Diyala province Wednesday, killing eight civilians — the latest in a growing number of female suicide attacks.

Seven people were wounded in the bombing in Khan Bani Saad, a town nine miles south of Baqouba, Diyala's provincial capital, police said.

Involving women in fighting violates religious taboos in Iraq, and a growing number of female suicide attacks could indicate insurgents are becoming increasingly desperate. U.S.-led forces are increasingly catching militants suspected of training women to become human bombs or finding evidence of efforts by al-Qaida in Iraq to recruit women, according to military records.

Because of Muslim cultural sensitivities, women can be good candidates for suicide attacks when there are no female security guards. Most Iraqis are conservative Muslims who believe physical contact is forbidden between women and men not related by blood or marriage. As a result, women are often allowed to pass through male-guarded checkpoints without being searched. In October, the U.S. Army trained 20 women to work as security guards in a Baghdad suburb after a female suicide bomber entered a nearby building without being searched.

Wednesday's bombing was the fourth female suicide attack in Iraq in three months, and all have taken place in Diyala province.

The National Organization for Women was unavailable for comment.