Belgian Woman was Iraq Suicide Bomber

scribblet · November 30, 2005

Hard to believe that someone not born into the religion can be converted to do such a thing.

Belgian-born woman was Iraq suicide bomber, sources say

First reported case

BRUSSELS - A Belgian-born convert to Islam has become the first female European suicide bomber, killing herself recently in Iraq, French intelligence officials claim.

The reports are being taken "seriously," Belgian sources said yesterday.

However, Lieve Pellens, a spokeswoman for the Belgian Justice Department, said last night the report would not be confirmed until the woman's identity had been properly verified.

"We're in the middle of getting the identification, but we haven't yet obtained any official confirmation," she told the Belgian newspaper La Libre Belge.

"We will continue to be cautious," the spokeswoman added, pointing out that false Belgian passports have been used in similar operations, most notably the assassination of Afghan mujahedeen leader Ahmad Shah Massoud in September, 2001.

European intelligence officials learned that U.S. troops in Iraq recently found the remains of a European woman at the site of a suicide attack. Nearby was a recently issued Belgian passport thought to belong to her.

Unconfirmed reports on RTL France radio said the woman's Belgian nationality had been established by her home country's security service, the Surete de l'Etat.

Belgian counter-terrorism experts had established that the woman converted to Islam and was married to an Islamist radical.