Unusual: Kamikaze Wasn't Religious Fanatic

The only survived female suicide terrorist is of sound mind and not a fanatic
After the terrible acts of terrorism committed by female kamikazes in Iliskhan-Yurt, Mozdok and Moscow (Tushino) many people are thinking why this form of terror has come to Russia. Many people draw a parallel between Palestine and Israel, but details of how kamikazes are used in Chechnya prove that Chechen terrorists have borrowed such tactics from some Arab fanatics. One of the first terrorist acts committed by kamikazes was registered in Chechnya in 2000. A truck stuffed with explosives rammed into the buildings of the commandant’s office and the police in Chechnya's second largest city of Argun. Some time later, terrorists attempted to follow the same pattern in the Leninsky District of Grozny, but failed. No explosion occurred, and the female kamikaze Mareta Duduyeva was captured.

The day of December 19, 2000 is still engraved in the memory of many officials of the provisional police department and the commandant’s office of the Leninsky District of Grozny; the people now celebrate the second birthday on the day. On that day several years ago they chanced to avoid death by a miracle. At about 4:30 pm. the guards near the commandant's office saw an Ural automobile rushing to the building. The automobile was approaching the building at full speed; it seemed that the driver was drunk. By that moment all automobiles of the police and the commandant's office were parked in garages, that is why the guards were absolutely sure the lorry was some unidentified automobile. A policeman made two precautionary shots in the air to stop the Ural. But the automobile didn't stop, and the policeman opened fire against the wheels and the radiator. The truck hit a concrete block, a woman's moan was heard from inside of the Ural. When policemen rushed to the automobile they saw a Chechen girl wounded in her hand. She cried: "It's not my fault, they forced me; it'll blow up now." Soldiers of the police department in the Leninsky District of Grozny were very brave: despite of the girl's warnings they opened the awning of the automobile and saw clockwork ticking among sacks with the inscription "Ammonium nitrate". An explosion was to sound in 42 seconds. When the contents of the truck were estimated later, it became clear that the consequences of the explosion would have been disastrous. As it was reported, the 42 sacks with ammonium nitrate weighed 2,086 kilograms; there were also 2 sacks of plastid, a TM-62 mine and two hollow charges stuffed with high explosive on the basis of hexogen. The hellish device could be set into operation with two duplicate buttons in the driver's cab. Luckily, the kamikaze became confused and failed to execute the task. Being wounded, she even forgot to activate a grenade that she had got from terrorists for that case if the buttons fail to operate.

A criminal case on the terrorist act was initiated on the basis of three clauses of the RF Criminal Code and was investigated by the Federal Security Service Department for Chechnya. With Mareta Duduyeva sentenced, it have become clear that investigators completed the case under those difficult conditions. The Chechen girl is of sound mind. In spite of her young age, the girl didn't repent of what she had done. First, Mareta attempted to shift the blame for the terrorist act upon Chechen bandits. As it turned out, it was the infamous Magomet Tsagarayev who made the girl become a kamikaze. The man, very much like terrorist Arbi Barayev was well-known for his cruelty; Magomet Tsagarayev seated the girl into the truck's cab, gave her a grenade and told what she had to do. According to Mareta, the terrorist threatened that he would kill her relatives if she refuses to execute the order.

It is not ruled out that the terrorist actually threatened to do away with the girl's parents. However, the investigators found out that Mareta Duduyeva from the Grebenskaya Stanitsa in the Shelkovskoy Region of Chechnya often quarreled with her parents and was at odds with them. It is important that a forensic expert made a more categorical resolution: he said the girl started her sexual life at the age of 12, which turned out to be a really very important detail. In fact, this behavior is very shameful for a Chechen girl; if the fact received publicity the whole of her clan would have been held up for shame. It is not ruled out that this fact was used to blackmail the girl and to make her a kamikaze. It is not ruled out that terrorists filmed raping of the girl and blackmailed her; this could be a really strong method to crush the girl's young psyche.

However that may be, Mareta Duduyeva wasn't a fanatically faithful Moslem; she was absolutely sane when she committed the act of terrorism. There were no reasons for her to be hostile to the federal forces as they killed none of her family and didn't plunder the house while mopping-up. She was an ordinary Chechen girl; nobody could say that one day she might become a sniper or a kamikaze.  

During the investigation the girl stayed at a detention center in Gudermes. She exchanged notes with a Chechen man from an adjacent cell; she pretended to fall in love with him and practically persuaded the man to shoulder the responsibility for the terrorist act (it would seem strange if the man claimed himself guilty of the terrorist act while it was Mareta who was detained at the crime scene). The girl was a real actor: even after giving evidence in court she still didn't admit guilt. She wasn't a classical Shahid in that sense of the word.

The Shahid problem is treated very seriously in Arab countries. Children are brought up under conditions when every child is ready to sacrifice his life in the name of Allah. In Arab families that traditionally have many children the loss of one son is not treated as loss of the breadwinner. On the contrary, extremists financially support Shahid families. And mullahs promise an eternal life in the paradise to kamikazes themselves. 

However, nothing of this kind happened with Mareta Duduyeva. At the age of 17 the girl was not aware of Wakhabism and never read the Quran. The investigation questioned the girl's father who said that the daughter often quarreled with her mother because the latter always lectured her on morals. About two weeks before the act of terrorism the girl told her parents that she could do anything to herself not to be a problem for them any longer.

Mareta's mother confirmed the words of her husband. She didn't take the threats of the daughter seriously and treated them like the previous quarrels. Next day the parents found a note written by Mareta and saying the girl left for Grozny and asked not to look for her.

Mareta was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment; she will be released before she turns 30. Chechnya will change by that time. Let's believe that by the moment of Mareta's release there will be no suicide bombers in the streets of Chechnya. And this objective can be easily achieved.

People are not right when they cite the example of Israel in connection with Russia's situation with suicide bombers. In Russia the component of fanatical religiousness is insignificant. When terrorists train Shahids for committing acts of terrorism they pursue their selfish ends. This is the reason why very often suicide bombers are women: it is easier to intimidate them and crush their psyche.

T.Bosirov
Vecherny Rostov