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Iraqi police foil teenage would-be suicide bomber

07 April 2010 23:09 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Iraqi police arrested a teenage boy wearing a vest packed with explosives near the western city of Falluja, foiling an attempt to attack security forces, a police officer said Wednesday, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
The 15-year-old was arrested Monday at his home in the town of Amiriya, about 5 km (3 miles) south of Falluja, said an officer who participated in the arrest.
A preliminary investigation found that a neighbor had encouraged the boy to blow himself up near police, telling him he would "go to paradise," to avenge the death of his father who was killed by security forces two years ago, the officer said.
"We acted promptly after receiving a tip and raided (the teenager’s) house to find him sitting on a sofa with his body wrapped with an explosive vest," said the officer, who asked not to be identified.
After interrogating the boy, police used an explosives sniffer dog to find the neighbor who had encouraged the boy.
"Using a sniffer dog, we managed to hold one woman suspect with explosives residue on her and we are waiting for final results of investigations to charge her," the officer said.
Suicide bombings have been a trademark of the al Qaeda militant group in Iraq.