Horror

al-Qa'ida is plumbing new depths of depravity. There is nothing they won't do if they think it will work in creating carnage and the political fall-out that comes from it and now they are using women with Down syndrome to do their bidding.

Baghdad's fragile peace was shattered yesterday when explosives strapped to two women with Down syndrome were detonated by remote control in crowded pet markets, killing at least 70 people.

The popular al-Ghazl pet market in central Baghdad opens only on Fridays and sells everything from dogs to snakes and exotic fish. The market has revived in recent weeks, especially since the Friday driving ban was lifted, and yesterday it was teeming with people enjoying a fine winter's day but Sunni fundamentalists consider the selling of pets to be haram, forbidden on religious grounds.

And not only did they use women with Down syndrome who quite possibly had no idea what they were being strapped with, the bombs seem to have been detonated by remote control.

Qassim Moussawi, an Iraqi military General said, "al-Qa'ida has increasingly used women as suicide bombers in recent weeks but this - if proven - would be the first known case of its triggering their explosives through remote controls in cellphones."

Related: Baghdad market bombers 'mentally impaired' {Telegraph}
Al Qaeda use two Down's syndrome women to blow up 73 people in Baghdad markets {Daily Mail}