Chilling image shows female suicide bomber 'holding baby minutes before detonating bomb'

A chilling photo of a female suicide bomber holding her baby in Iraq is believed to have been taken moments before she pressed the detonator.

After the picture surfaced, it was initially thought the woman was a civilian fleeing fighting in Mosul, clutching two handbags and a child.

But the woman is believed to have been holding a detonator in her right hand.

Moments after the photo was taken the woman reportedly triggered the bomb, killing herself and the child.

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A number of other civilians and two Iraqui soldiers were also injured in the blast, but no one else was killed, The Independent reported.

The woman reportedly tried to detonate the bomb closer to the soldiers, but her vest failed to explode until she was a distance away.

A general has claimed some ISIS female suicide bombers use their children as shields.

“The women are fighting with their children right beside them,” Lieutenant General Sami al-Aridi said.

“It’s making us hesitant to use air strikes, to advance. If it weren’t for this we could be finished in just a few hours.”