Our own Kris Kotarski in the Calgary Herald:
In 2006, psychiatry professor Anne Speckhard from Georgetown University and psychology professor Khapta Akhmedova from Chechen State University profiled the Chechen black widows like Dzhennet Abdurakhmanova, 17, and Markha Ustarkhanova, 20, who attacked the Moscow metro. Looking in depth at a sample of 26 female bombers, they concluded that the death of a brother, a father or the rape of a female relative at the hands of Russian soldiers had traumatized every woman in their sample, and formed the motivation for their behaviour.
“They do not appear coerced, drugged or otherwise enticed into these acts.
On the contrary, they are self-recruited on the basis of seeking a means of enacting social justice, revenge and warfare against what they perceive as their nation's enemy. All the women in our sample had been deeply personally traumatized and bereaved by violent deaths in their near families or all about them, and we believe this formed the basis for their self-recruitment into terrorist organizations.”
Another raid, this time in Paktia Province in Afghanistan, illustrates this dynamic as well. Here, NATO admitted earlier this month that its forces were responsible for a house raid that killed five civilians, a government official, his brother, and three female relatives, including two pregnant women and a teenager.
More here.