Three recent suicide bombings mark a desperately violent trend. The young woman was smiling and waving as she approached the bus that had stopped at a railroad crossing near the Caucasus town of Mozdok, North Ossetia. When the driver refused to open the doors, she tried to lunge beneath the vehicle. Witnesses said she screamed “Allahu akhbar” (God is great). Then came an explosion that killed at least 17 people, mostly military personnel headed to work at Prokhladny Air Force base, the main base for Russian operations in the neighboring breakaway republic of Chechnya. It was the third deadly suicide bombing in or around Chechnya in less than a month – and the third to involve Chechen women – a trend presenting a new problem for the Kremlin as it tries to impose peace in Chechnya. Experts say the unprecedented prominence of female suicide bombers is a sign of Chechen desperation that could signal the “Palestinization” of the mainly Muslim republic’s long war of independence from Russia. Full Story