Abdullaev, Nabi
2007
Unravelling Chechen “Black Widows”
Homeland Defense Journal
5
5
18-21
Female suicide bombers, called "Black Widows" by sensationalist journalists, became the Chechen rebels' weapon of choice after the October 2002 hostage-taking raid on a Moscow theater. Nineteen of 41 attackers in that raid were masked women carrying belts with explosives. In the second Chechen war with the Russian military, the operational initiative in the Chechen resistance was hijacked by Arab Islamic jihadists, who imported effective terrorist tactics from other jihad fronts. The use of female suicide bombers was one such tactic. The little evidence available on the recruitment of women suicide bombers in the Chechen cause suggests that religion is used as the inspirational, motivational, and legitimizing dynamic for the recruitment. Women are strategically appealing as suicide bombers, because the passion of their sacrifice is magnified by their willingness to sacrifice women's supposed traditional opposition to violence and killing. At the same time, they are considered more expendable than men, who are viewed as more valuable in combat that requires particular skills and training. In some cases, Russian Federal troops resorted to the tactics used by Israel in countering suicide bombings. They demolished the houses of the families of the suicide bombers. Moscow also promoted the development of loyal Chechen statehood and helped the Republic to establish police control over the Republic's territory. This effort, which brutally suppressed any separatist and jihadist sentiments within Chechen social groups, has not allowed the glorification of suicide bombing to develop into an inspirational motivation for new suicide bombers.
10272