Iraqi bomber was mentally disabled woman

BAGHDAD, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- One of two bombers who struck in Baghdad Monday was a mentally disabled woman whose explosives were detonated by remote control, officials said.

Brig. Gen. Qassim Atta, an Iraqi military spokesman, told CNN the incident outside the city's Green Zone was the latest in a series of terrorist bombings in which woman have been used to launch attacks.

At least 18 people, including 15 women, died in the two Monday attacks, officials said.

In the Green Zone incident, two women -- one reportedly pregnant -- were among the five victims when an explosives vest strapped to the mentally disabled woman detonated in a line of workers waiting to be searched at a checkpoint, The Times of London reported.

The Green Zone, also known as the International Zone, houses Iraqi government offices and the headquarters of U.S. forces in Iraq.

In an earlier explosion, 13 women died on a bus taking them to work at the Iraqi Trade Ministry building when the vehicle was blasted by a so-called sticky bomb attached to its side, the newspaper said.

A U.S. military spokesman said that two Iraqi army members and three civilians were among the dead in the second attack.