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The last \u2018first\u2019?<\/div>\n

<\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

These days, the news (and propaganda) value of suicide bombings in Iraq has significantly decreased<\/a> from the (be)heady days of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi\u2019s grisly exploits (though that may yet change<\/a>). So what\u2019s Al Qaeda to do to shock people these days? Enter Muriel Degauque, a 38-year old Belgian who, this week, became the first European woman to commit a suicide bombing<\/a> in Iraq. The qualifiers are indeed necessary \u2013 she\u2019s not the first woman to do it in Iraq<\/a>, the Arab world, or anywhere else for that matter. A historical overview<\/a> will show that female suicide bombers have been used by a number of organisations, beginning with a woman from a (mostly non-Muslim) movement<\/a> in Lebanon in 1985. The most famous one, Thenmuli Rajaratnam<\/a>, who assassinated Indian Prime Minister Ragiv Gandhi in 1991, hailed from the (again, non-Muslim) Tamil Tigers<\/a>, for whom women constituted 30-40% of their hundreds<\/a> of bombers. Yet, despite the political history of these tactics, newspapers were eager to tout this new \u201cfirst\u201d and analyse Degauque\u2019s motivations<\/a> from an Islamic point of view, though links to Al Qaeda are clearly more opportunist than deliberate. Of course, accounts Degauque\u2019s troubled early life<\/a> didn\u2019t help. A runaway with a history of drug abuse before converting to Islam, she had a series of failed relationships with immigrant men (themselves radicalised) and eventually cut ties with her western family. \u201cShe had a classic profile for a convert to radical Islam,\u201d said security analyst Claude Moniquet. \u201cShe was clearly under the influence of her husband who was a radical.\u201d Others felt (as do we) that alienation<\/a> had a greater part to play in the recipe than the garnishes of religion or economics. \u201cI did not see it coming,\u201d said Muriel\u2019s mother, Liliane Degauque. \u201cShe was very secretive, with a very independent character. I am angry at those who manipulated her,\u201d adding (cryptically) that she was \u201cmore Muslim than Muslim.\u201d As for the tactic of suicide bombing itself, there is enough to debate<\/a> among theologians about what may be the Islamic world\u2019s greatest exception to its own rules<\/a>. But as the post 7\/7 videos<\/a> of Britain\u2019s Mohammed Siddique Khan show, the bombers themselves will often tell you what their motivations are (i.e., it\u2019s less about Islam than you may think). The list of \u201cfirsts\u201d may be dwindling, but there still may be more before the \u201cwhys\u201d and \u201cwhat nows\u201d are answered effectively.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com. He is based in London, England.\n<\/p>\n

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