AQI USES WOMAN WITH DOWN'S SYNDROME TO ATTACK

S E C R E T BAGHDAD 000395

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2018
TAGS: PGOV PINR PINS PTER IZ
SUBJECT: AQI USES WOMAN WITH DOWN'S SYNDROME TO ATTACK
MARKET

Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor Greg D'Elia for reasons 1.4 (
b,d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: District Council chairmen in Baghdad told
poloff February 2 that Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) detonated bombs
in two popular markets on February 1 as part of a desperate
bid for attention on the one year anniversary of the launch
of the Baghdad Security Plan and the second anniversary of
the bombing of the Samara Mosque. These market bombings,
which resulted in at least 29 deaths (including the two
assailants),represent the most devastating mass casualty
attacks in Baghdad since August 1, 2007, when three car bombs
killed 80 people. Coalition intelligence analysts and the
Brigade (4/10 MTN) covering the districts where the attacks
took place have revealed that both women bombers were
patients in area mental hospitals. One of the women almost
certainly had Down's Syndrome and the other reportedly
suffered from schizophrenia. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) Former Rusafa District Council Chairman Jamal H.
Khalaf told POLOFF February 2 that he believes Al Qaeda in
Iraq (AQI) detonated bombs February 1 in two Baghdad markets
out of desperation. Shortly after the bombing, Khalaf said,
he rushed to the scene in the Shorja pet market of the Rusafa
district, where he saw a devastating spectacle of carnage.
AQI is weaker now, he argued, and desperately needs
attention. (NOTE: Desperate or not, MNF-I STRATEFF notes,
AQI continues to carry out mass attacks and targeted
assassinations. END NOTE.) Karada District Council Chairman
Mohammed Al Rubeiy argued February 2 that AQI conducted the
attacks to mark the one year anniversary of the Baghdad
Security Plan, and to commemorate the bombing of the Samara
Mosque )- these two events, he noted, have anniversaries in
early February. While both district council members remained
uncertain as to whether the suicide bombers had Down's
Syndrome )- as local and international media have widely
reported )- they agreed that the bombings have increased
public contempt for AQI.


3. (C) The Brigade (4/10 MTN) covering the Rusafa and 9
Nissan districts, where the attacks took place, took
photographs of the female attackers which indicate that at
least one had Down's Syndrome, and that she did not likely
detonate the bomb located in her backpack. (NOTE: MNC-I does
not have evidence for the latter claim, and the Brigade was
unable to conduct a DNA test to verify the former claim. END
NOTE.) Officers in 4/10 note that the explosives in her
backpack, which also contained ball bearings, detonated in
the Souk Al Ghazil pet market in 9 Nissan district, killing
21 and wounding 30. The second bombing, which took place 10
minutes later in the Shorja pet market, involved a suicide
vest containing ball bearings of similar make to the ball
bearings in the earlier explosion, and resulted in the death
of 8 and the wounding of 23.


4. (C) Media accounts appear to over-estimate the total
number of casualties, with AP reporting that 99 were killed
and AFP reporting 98 killed. (NOTE: MNF-I bases its casualty
estimates on the dead bodies that soldiers count at the scene
of the bombing; their estimate does not include victims who
later die of their injuries. Khalaf told POLOFF that he has
learned, in the aftermath of past mass casualty attacks in
Baghdad's central urban areas, that more than 50 percent of
Iraqis wounded during the bombing later die of their
injuries. END NOTE.)


5. (S) Coalition intelligence sources have revealed that
both women bombers were patients in area mental hospitals.
The woman who did not appear to have Down's Syndrome
reportedly suffered from schizophrenia, and local sources
claim that AQI operatives convinced her that they would
provide her with medication if she carried out their wishes.


6. (U) COMMENT: In determining how to refer to the woman
with Down's Syndrome who unwittingly carried out the attack
on the market -- wearing a backpack that was remotely detoned
by the true perpetrator and not knowing that death would be
her lot -- post perceives a deficit in the vocabulary
required to describe the moral abomination of this act.
Describing her as an "assailant" or "attacker" fails to
capture her true role as the involuntary agent of terrorists
who used her life to take the lives of other innocent
civilians. END COMMENT.
CROCKER