Wanted posters warn of suspected terrorist Ruzana Ibragimova, a 22-year-old widow of a terrorist killed by Russian forces last year. Chechen hard boyz are known to use such "black widows" in attacks, since they're more willing to carry out jihad to avenge the deaths of their husbands.
They're extremely dangerous because they're harder to spot. They don't fit the typical profile of a terrorist -- young, male and Mohammedan -- and they can get closer to their targets. Chechen women have been so successful as hard boyz that al-Qaeda in the Caucasus has now shifted to using them more than men to carry out attacks.
Last month, a female suicide bomber killed at least 16 at a train station in Volgograd. In October, another female suicide terrorist blew up a bus in the same city.
Until recently, Islamist women have largely stayed on the sidelines. But increasingly they are joining the jihad. And al-Qaeda is actively recruiting them.
In 2009, the wife of al-Qaeda leader Ayman
Zawahiri... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as
the real brains of the outfit.Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is...
went online to urge Mohammedan women to become more active in jihad. Al-Qaeda recently launched an Arabic-language magazine targeting women.
And the group has set up a training camp for them inside Syria known as the "sisters' base," where it hopes to inspire female fanatics seeking to copy British black widow Samantha Lewthwaite, now the most wanted woman in the world for her alleged role in terror plots. She's the widow of a 7/7 suicide bomber.