An eight-year-old girl was strapped with remote-controlled explosives and used as a human bomb by Iraqi insurgents in a blast that killed an Iraqi commander earlier today. An Iraqi captain was killed and seven other soldiers were injured in the explosion which took place in the town of Youssifiyah, south of Baghdad.
The explosives were detonated as the girl approached the Iraqi commander....
Involving women in fighting violates religious taboos in Iraq, but extremists are recruiting females and youths to stage suicide attacks in a desperate attempt to beat tightened security measures.
Women can avoid thorough searches at checkpoints because of Islamic sensitivities, and four have carried out suicide bombings since November
RE:Iraqi jihadists use 8-year-old girl as suicide bomber
by sunein on May 15, 2008 02:09 AM Permalink
Binayak Sen says poor people have real grievances One of India's best-known public health specialists and human rights activists, Dr Binayak Sen, has now spent a year in an Indian prison.
He is accused of links with Maoist rebels in Chhattisgarh, one of India's poorest states where the rebels have a strong presence. The doctor denies the charge.
During a court appearance earlier this year, Dr Sen said he did not support the Maoists.
"If they arrest people like me, human rights workers will have no locus standi. I have never condoned Maoist violence. It is an invalid and unsustainable movement," he told Tehelka magazine.
'Real grievances'
At the same time, Dr Sen has maintained the Maoists have tapped into a groundswell of legitimate grievances. The grievances [of the people] are real. There is an ongoing famine in the region. Forty per cent of the country lives with malnutrition," he said.
The Maoists say they are fighting their long-running insurgency for the rights of landless farmers and tribes.
Dr Sen, a trained paediatrician, was working with poor tribal people in Chhattisgarh, when he was detained last year. He was also a senior member of the local unit of a leading Indian human rights group, the People's Union for Civil Liberties.
