U.S. Nabs Female Bomber Mastermind, Iranian-Trained Sniper Instructor

The U.S. miltary announced the capture of a demon who used women as homicide bombers as well as an Iranian-trained sniper instructor.

Meanwhile, the hunt is on around Mosul for the kidnapped Chaldean Catholic archbishop.

The U.S. military announced the capture Saturday of an insurgent leader who was recruiting and training women, including his wife, to wrap themselves in explosives and blow themselves up — the latest sign that Al Qaeda in Iraq plans to keep using women to carry out deadly homicide attacks.

The military also said it had killed six insurgents and detained 13 suspects Friday and Saturday during operations against Al Qaeda in Iraq in central and northern Iraq.

In another development, the military said Saturday it had captured a sniper instructor in Baghdad who had been trained by the Iranians.

In the case of the suicide vests, the military said the man was arrested Thursday in an operation near the town of Kan Bani Sad, north of Baghdad in Diyala province — still an al Qaeda hotbed.

"The ringleader was a man trying to recruit women to carry out SVEST (suicide vest) bombings. The cell leader used his wife and another woman, to act as carriers of his next SVEST attack," the military said in a statement.

Maj. Daniel J. Meyers, a spokesman for American forces operating north of Baghdad, said the operation was carried after out after receiving a "high level of intelligence."

Women have recently been used more frequently by Al Qaeda in Iraq as bombers, with six attacks or attempted attacks this year alone, according to U.S. military statistics. That's out of a total of 19 such attacks since the U.S.-led invasion began in 2003, Rear Adm. Gregory Smith said in a recent briefing.

The latest included two women with a history of psychiatric treatment who killed about 100 people at pet markets in Baghdad on Feb. 1.

It remains unclear if Al Qaeda has begun using women because it has been unable to recruit new insurgents or because they are more difficult to detect.

The Iranian-trained sniper instructor was arrested along with three other men, and the military said he was also an expert in the use of bombs known as explosively formed penetrators that are designed to defeat the armor used in American military vehicles and tanks. Most of those bombs are designed and often built in neighboring Iran.

"He reportedly coordinated and facilitated Special Groups militia training in Iran on the use of explosively formed penetrators. Reports indicate he was an associate of several Special Groups criminal leaders involved in attacks on Iraqi and Coalition forces," the military said.