Russia's Black Widow bombers

CNN:

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The use of women as suicide bombers or "Black Widows," is one way in which the struggle in Chechnya is different from al Qaeda and more analogous to the military campaign waged by the IRA in Northern Ireland, says Ayers.

"This war is politically motivated, it is not about a religious ideology as in the case of al Qaeda, so everyone participates and it is ultimately irrelevant if you are a man or a woman," said Ayers.

"They are not like al Qaeda who might say women should be hidden away and have no role in attacks."

The "Black Widows" are believed to be made up of women whose husbands, brothers, fathers or other relatives have been killed in the conflict. The women are often dressed head-to-toe in black and wear the so-called "martyr's belt" filled with explosives.

They have beem involved in a number of attacks in Russia and first came to prominence in 2002 when they were part of a group of separatists who threatened to blow up a Moscow theater seized in the middle of a musical.

In the rescue attempt by Russian special forces, 115 hostages and 50 Chechen separatists were killed.

In 2003 two Black Widows were responsible for blasts at a rock concert that killed 14 in Moscow.

Black Widows were also members of the 32-strong group of heavily-armed Chechen rebels who took 1,200 people as hostages in Beslan in 2004. In the ensuing gun battles between the rebels and Russian forces, 334 hostages were killed, many school children. Only one militant survived.

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The attacks in Moscow are designed to gain maximum publicity said Ayers, who added that the militants were trying to send a message to the Russian government that "we can still strike you in your capital."

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The last quoted paragraph applies to most terrorist attacks. At heart they are an information op and the more people they kill the more publicity they get. They are still mass murder operations against non combatants which makes them a war crime.

One of the problems with this type of terrorism in Russia is that the people responsible cannot sustain the operations over a period of time in a way that will persuade the Russian government to concede their point. As the story indicates, the bombings sometimes have years between events.

Bill Roggio has more on the Black Widows.