Females play key roles in terror acts against Russia - CTV.ca

Extremists have repeatedly used women to attack Russian targets because they are more successful at undertaking acts of terror than their male counterparts, says a terrorism expert who predicted the recent attack on a Moscow airport.

Russian authorities have yet to identify the individuals behind Monday's deadly attack on Domodedovo airport, but news reports have made reference to the possibility of a female suicide bomber being a key ingredient. Thirty-five people died in the bombing, which sent screws, ball bearings and shrapnel flying throughout the international arrivals hall.

Mia Bloom, a fellow at Penn State University's International Center for the Study of Terrorism, said women play a key role in the terrorist tactics used in Russia because they are generally more likely to be successful than men in accomplishing their goals.

That means women can get closer to their targets and inflict greater damage with explosives, as in prior cases on subway trains, planes and the like.

In turn, when Moscow elects to use harsher means of rooting out female terrorists, it has the effect of outraging both males and females, garnering more sympathy for the extremists and generating new recruits for the cause.

"It's a win-win situation for the terrorists," Bloom said in a recent phone interview from the Penn State University campus.

Bloom is the author of "Bombshell: The Many Faces of Women Terrorists" -- a recently released book that includes analysis of the ongoing battle between Chechen militants and Russian forces, which has led to many acts over the past decade.

The book predicted that Chechen extremists would attack Domodedovo airport after they bombed a subway train last spring.

Women have actually been involved in a previous attack at Domodedovo airport, when a pair of female suicide bombers boarded separate planes in the summer of 2004. Both planes exploded in mid-air, killing 90 people in total.

The most recent major attack in Russia involving female terrorists was the bombing of a pair of Moscow subway trains on March 29, 2010. Thirty-nine people died in the twin blasts that occurred within an hour of one another during the Monday morning rush hour.

One of the assailants in the twin subway attacks was a teacher who taught computer science. Her father confirmed her identity when he recognized a picture of her severed head, which had been blown off by the blast.

The other attacker was the teenage widow of a slain Islamic militant. The public learned what she looked like after she died, when pictures surfaced of her posing with a handgun, standing alongside her late husband.

Russian authorities promised to find and punish those responsible for the violence and advocated tougher anti-terror measures.

Bloom said it's a response cycle the Kremlin has turned to again and again -- including after Monday's attack at Domodedovo -- that has done little to stem the attacks that keep on occurring.

"They think they can defeat terrorism thorough the use of force," said Bloom, who believes a more complex approach is needed to make militants stand down.

Bloom points to the approach used in Northern Ireland, where years of careful diplomacy were used to reach a ceasefire with the Irish Republican Army, which eventually gave up its arms and renounced violence.

While Northern Ireland still faces challenges from dissidents, the terror threat is much less intensive than it was years ago.

"It's not perfect, but it's a much better template," said Bloom.

With files from The Associated Press