Palestinian policewomen march in the West Bank town of Hebron in 2005. Women work as police across the Muslim world, including in Hamas's patron Iran, where women clad in black chadors are taught how to use guns, rappel down buildings, chase cars and disable bombs.

Women police: the new veiled face of order in Gaza

GAZA CITY (AFP) — Susan Aqal is a tightly veiled Palestinian mother who has a baby boy. But she has abandoned traditional domestic life to interrogate suspected drug addicts, thieves and murderers in the volatile Gaza Strip.

A university graduate who worked as a lawyer for various organisations, she leapt at the chance to fulfill her dream of becoming a police officer after the radical Islamist movement Hamas seized the territory in June.

"This is my field. This is what I studied. I wanted a job in security and used to work in other organisations, but when I got the chance I didn't hesitate to join the police force," says the 28-year-old wife of a Hamas paramilitary officer.

Continued...