Iraqi girl aborts suicide bombing and surrenders

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A teenage Iraqi girl wearing a vest packed with explosives turned herself in rather than go through with a suicide bombing in a violence-torn city north of Baghdad, police and the U.S. military said on Monday.

A U.S. military statement said the girl surrendered to police on Sunday in Baquba, capital of Iraq's restive Diyala province, where Sunni Arab al Qaeda militants are waging war on U.S. and Iraqi forces.

She was still wearing the vest, which police had to remove before detaining her. Iraqi police and U.S. sources differed on the girl's age, with estimates ranging from 13 to 17.

"Reports are that she approached the IPs (Iraqi police) saying she had the vest on and didn't want to go through with it," U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant Commander David Russell told Reuters on Monday. "If she was forced to put on the vest or if she did it voluntarily, that is still being reviewed."

Police footage obtained by Reuters showed a girl with dyed red hair talking with four Iraqi policemen from a distance, her back against a wall. After some minutes, one of them approaches her and ties her arms back onto a railing.

Two policemen then remove the vest. After searching her, one takes off his jacket and drapes it over her to cover the girl's bare shoulders.

Under interrogation in a police station later, she said an older woman had strapped the vest to her and told her to go near the entrance of a local school and await instructions from someone who would meet her there, police said.

Suicide bomb attacks by women and girls have become increasingly common in Iraq this year. U.S. forces say al Qaeda militants favour female bombers because they can escape detection by police reluctant to search women.

Female suicide bombers attacked Shi'ite pilgrims during two annual rites in recent weeks, killing dozens. Many attacks by female suicide bombers have taken place in Diyala.

"The surrender of the suicide bomber indicates that the Iraqis are continuing to reject al-Qaeda and its practices," said Major Jon Pendell, a U.S. military spokesman.

Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered an award equivalent to around $4,000 (2,160 pounds) be paid to one of the policemen for his role in the operation.

Iraq has become far less dangerous over the past year, but militants are still able to carry out devastating bombings.

A male suicide bomber killed 25 people at a banquet in western Baghdad's Sunni Arab Abu Ghraib district on Sunday.