HE is known as Abu Baker, he is married with a one-year-old daughter, but his main mission in life is death. At the age of 23, he has travelled clandestinely to Iraq to become a suicide bomber.

One day soon, Abu Baker will set out to achieve his objective of Islamic martyrdom by blowing himself up in the hope of killing as many coalition troops or Iraqi security forces as possible. He has made contact with insurgent commanders, who are already examining possible targets.

“There is no discussion or debate or any question of him changing his mind,” one of those commanders said in a two-hour interview by telephone last week. “He is not interested in debating the merits of his action or looking at alternatives. The only goal in his mind is his attack.”

Three months after Iraqi insurgents failed to disrupt the elections that led to the formation of a democratic government, suicide bombers who have been recruited across the Islamic world are rapidly emerging as the deadliest threat to political stability in Baghdad.

Amid signs of shifting insurgent tactics — and a rapidly evolving coalition response — Arab volunteers such as Abu Baker are streaming into Iraq to carry out what senior British and US officers refer to as “spectaculars”: headline-grabbing suicide assaults that produce dozens of casualties.

A remarkable insight into the purpose and planning of suicide attacks was given to The Sunday Times last week by an active insurgent commander who has co-ordinated assaults by diverse rebel groups scattered across the country.

The commander was speaking after a week of intense violence that included suicide attacks in Erbil, Baghdad and Tikrit.

Between them the bombers killed more than 100 people, many of them Iraqis applying to join the police. Over 250 Iraqis have died in the past two weeks. US military deaths, which had dropped to a low of 36 in March, rose to 51 in April.

There was further carnage yesterday, when two suicide car bombs exploded in Tahir Square, in central Baghdad, killing 22 people, including two Americans. More than 35 were injured.

“It is a very difficult topic and concept to understand,” the commander said of the mostly young Arab would-be bombers who are smuggled across Iraq’s borders, most through Syria.

Syrian officials said last week they had arrested 137 Saudi nationals as they tried to enter Iraq.

“They come with a belief and an ideology that is non-negotiable and inflexible,” the commander added. “They arrive ready, set and trained for their mission. The mind and spirituality levels required are already there.”

The bombers were seeking a target and a weapon, the commander said. “They need co-ordination on how to get there, which roads to use and the security layout. Their state of mind is then totally transferred to absorbing all the details of the target.”

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