Monday
1 Oct 2007
Dressed to Kill: Why Air Marshals Are Concerned
By Annie Jacobsen in category Federal Air Marshals
A male suicide bomber, dressed as a woman and wearing a burqa, blew himself up at a police checkpoint in northern Pakistan today, killing sixteen people and wounding twenty-nine. From Agence France-Presse:
"A man disguised in a burqa got out of an autorickshaw when police stopped the vehicle for a search at a checkpoint. He then blew himself up," police officer Asar Islam told AFP.
What do male suicide bombers disguised as women have to do with airport terrorism? According to Department of Homeland Security documents I viewed, more than you may think. Federal Air Marshals are currently undergoing training so as to be on the lookout for female suicide bombers in U.S. airports. “Most importantly,” states the Federal Air Marshal Service Office of Intelligence document, “females have the element of surprise.”