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BRUSSELS - Muriel Degauque lived a largely unremarkable life. Until, that is, she converted to Islam and blew herself up, aged 38, on an Iraqi roadside, going down in the history books as Europe's first female suicide bomber.
Yesterday, the network accused of recruiting the so-called "Belgian kamikaze" went on trial in Brussels. Prosecutors say the six men, mainly Belgians of north African descent, were responsible for sending Degauque to Iraq in 2005 to carry out a suicide attack against US troops near Baghdad. Her explosives went off prematurely and Degauque, 37, died slowly. No one else was killed.
The group's alleged ringleader and the only one currently behind bars, Bilal Soughir, could face a 10-year sentence if convicted at the end of the trial, which is expected to last four weeks.
- Independent
