US Agencies: Terrorists' Use Of Female Suicide Bombers Increasing

Terrorists increasingly favor using women as suicide bombers to thwart security and draw attention to their causes, a new FBI-Department of Homeland Security assessment concludes.

The assessment said the agencies "have no specific, credible intelligence indicating that terrorist organizations intend to utilize female suicide bombers against targets in the homeland."

But it points out that women have been reported as attackers in the Russian breakaway republic of Chechnya and in India, Iraq, Pakistan, the Palestinian territories, Sri Lanka and Turkey.

The notice was distributed Monday to law enforcement officials throughout the United States, and CNN obtained a copy of it.

Officials want to make sure security officers are alert to the possibility of female bombers and to familiarize themselves with behavior patterns that such attackers have used in the past.

"Even as military and security forces are paying more attention to the use of female operatives, terrorists are adapting their suicide attack tactics to compensate for enhanced security measures," the advisory said. Video

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