Andalib Suleiman

Andalib Suleiman Takatka was the fourth Palestinian female suicide bomber. She killed six people, seven including herself, and injured over forty at a bus stop on Jaffa Road outside of the open-air Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem on April 12,2002. Rather than wearing an explosive belt, Andalib carried a black handbag that contained three plastic pipes filled with explosives and nails connected to a battery. She belonged to the Tanzim as well as the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. In her final video she was dressed in black and holding a Koran while she stated that she was about to die as a symbol of the woman's fight against occupation, and that it was her desire to finish the work that had been started by her two cousins, and to honor the memory of Wafa Idris, Darine Abu Aisha, and Ayat al-Akhras. Two Chinese construction workers were killed in the attack.

Background

Andalib lived in the village of Beit Fajar, sixteen kilometers south of Bethlehem, where her entire family clan the Takatka resides. Her two cousins Iman Takatka, age seventeen, and Samia Takatka, age twenty-one, were captured by Israeli security forces as they prepared to carry out suicide bombings at Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market. The girls were taken to an Israeli prison and in response to the attempted attack their family's home was demolished by the IDF, Andalib witnessed this. She became increasingly fascinated with other female suicide bombers especially Wafa Idris and Ayat al-Akhras. After Ayat's death Andalib, along with the other female members of her family, traveled to Deaishe refugee camp to pay their respects to her family. There she met Youssef Moughrabil a leader of Tanzim in Bethlehem.

Israeli sources claim that her motivation was "to redeem herself for her alleged extramarital sexual relations with a Fatah operative. According to one version, she even became pregnant with his child." Also see the book: "Army of Roses: Inside the world of the Palestinian suicide bomber." for more information about Female suicide bombers.

The Attack

Youssef Moughrabil, along with Muhataz Muhammed Abdallah Himouni and Marwan Saloum, planned and trained Andalib for the attack. Taleb Amr, known more commonly as Abu Ali, a Tanzim military activist supplied the weapons and the explosives for Andalib. Hours before the attack Andalib met with Himouni and Saloum to learn how to detonate the bomb. On Friday April 12, 2002 Andalib was driven to Abu Dis where she took a taxi to Jerusalem. From there Andalib went to the outside market Mahane Yehuda and detonated the bomb at a bus stop.

External links

* [http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Communiques/2003/Blackmailing%20Young%20Women%20into%20Suicide%20Terrorism%20- Young Women in Suicide Terrorism]

* [http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/html/final/eng/sib/6_04/women.htm The involvement of women in suicide bombing attacks]

* [http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Communiques/2002/Terrorist+responsible+for+planning+April+12+suicid.htm?DisplayMode=print Terrorist responsible for planning April 12 suicide bombing in Jerusalem arrested during Operation Defensive Shield]