Failed Suicide Bomber: Afghan Girl, 8

Supposed sister of Taliban commander was to attack border police
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 6, 2014 8:38 AM CST
Failed Suicide Bomber: Afghan Girl, 8
A young Afghan girl, not the one detained, waits to receive winter aid in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2014.   (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini)

Police arrested an unlikely would-be suicide bomber in southern Afghanistan yesterday: an 8-year-old girl. An Afghan soldier spotted the girl in a suicide vest; the BBC reports that she intended to attack border police, but notes it's unclear whether she failed in her task because she had trouble detonating the vest or was detained before she could do so. The girl is believed to be the sister of a Taliban commander who is said to have promoted the now-botched plan. She's being held in Helmand province's capital; police say she is shocked and confused. (More Afghanistan stories.)

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