Iraqi Women Work to Halt Bombers, but Paycheck Is Elusive

Andrea Bruce for The New York Times

The Daughters of Iraq are tasked with thwarting female suicide bombers. Some of the women in the group quit after their $250 monthly pay dried up.

By JACK HEALY and YASIR GHAZI

BAQUBA, Iraq — The women charged with thwarting Iraq’s female suicide bombers spend their days in cramped metal sheds at police checkpoints and lobbies of government offices, running their hands over the black-robed bodies of other women.
The Iraqi authorities say the searches have helped to curb female suicide attacks, once a scourge of this still-dangerous city. And they say the teams of women, known as the Daughters of Iraq, play a crucial role in a country where rigid divisions between the sexes make it awkward, sometimes unthinkable, for male police officers to frisk women and girls in search of the telltale lump of a gun or an explosive belt.

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Iraqi Women Work to Halt Bombers, but Paycheck Is Elusive