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A suicide attack is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are often associated with terrorism or military conflicts and are considered a form of murder–suicide. Suicide attacks involving explosives are commonly referred to as suicide bombings. In the context of terrorism, they are also commonly referred to as suicide terrorism.[1] While generally not inherently regulated under international law, suicide attacks in their execution often violate international laws of war, such as prohibitions against perfidy and targeting civilians.[2]
Suicide attacks have occurred in various contexts, ranging from military campaigns—such as the Japanese kamikaze pilots during World War II (1944–1945)—to more contemporary Islamic terrorist campaigns—including the September 11 attacks in 2001. Initially, these attacks primarily targeted military, police, and public officials. This approach continued with groups like al-Qaeda, which combined mass civilian targets with political leadership.[1] While only a few suicide attacks occurred between 1945 and 1980,[3] between 1981 and September 2015, a total of 4,814 suicide attacks were carried out in over 40 countries,[4] resulting in over 45,000 deaths. The global frequency of these attacks increased from an average of three per year in the 1980s to roughly one per month in the 1990s, almost one per week from 2001 to 2003,[5] and roughly one per day from 2003 to 2015.[4] In 2019, there were 149 suicide bombings in 24 countries, carried out by 236 individuals. These attacks resulted in 1,850 deaths and 3,660 injuries.[6]
Suicide attacks distinguish themselves from other terror attacks due to their heightened lethality and destructiveness.[7][1] Perpetrators benefit from the ability to conceal weapons, make last-minute adjustments, and the lack of need for escape plans, rescue teams, efforts to conceal their identities or evade capture afterwards, and—in the case of suicide bombings—remote or delayed detonation.[7] Although they accounted for only 4% of all terrorist attacks between 1981 and 2006, they resulted in 32% of terrorism-related deaths (14,599 deaths). 90% of these attacks occurred in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.[8] By mid-2015, about three-quarters of all suicide attacks occurred in just three countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.[9]
William Hutchinson (W. Hutchinson) describes suicide attacks as a weapon of psychological warfare[10] aimed at instilling fear in the target population,[11] undermining areas where the public feels secure, and eroding the "fabric of trust that holds societies together." This weapon is further used to demonstrate the lengths to which perpetrators will go to achieve their goals.[7] Motivations for suicide attackers vary: kamikaze pilots acted under military orders, while other attacks have been driven by religious or nationalist purposes. According to analyst Robert Pape, prior to 2003, most attacks targeted occupying forces.[12] From 2000 to 2004, the ideology of Islamist martyrdom played a predominant role in motivating the majority of bombers, as noted by anthropologist Scott Atran.[13]
- ^ a b c Moghadam, Assaf (2006). "Defining suicide terrorism". In Pedahzur, Ami (ed.). Root causes of suicide terrorism: the globalization of martyrdom. Cass series on political violence (Reprinted ed.). London: Routledge. pp. 13–24. ISBN 978-0-415-77029-3.
- ^ Hunter, Jane (June 5, 2015). "Suicide bombings: What does the law actually say?". AOAV. Archived from the original on June 11, 2015.
- ^ Pape, Robert (27 August 2003). "The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism". American Political Science Review. 97 (3): 343. doi:10.1017/S000305540300073X (inactive 1 November 2024). hdl:1811/31746. S2CID 1019730.
Before the early 1980s, suicide terrorism was rare but not unknown (Lewis 1968; O'Neill 1981; Rapoport 1984). However, since the attack on the U.S. embassy in Beirut in April 1983, there have been at least 188 separate suicide terrorist attacks worldwide, in Lebanon, Israel, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Turkey, Russia and the United States.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link) - ^ a b "Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism. Suicide Attack Database". Cpostdata.uchicago.edu. Archived from the original on 24 January 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
- ^ Atran 2006, p. 128.
- ^ "Escaping Atonement in Sunni Islam".
- ^ a b c Hoffman, Bruce (June 2003). "The Logic of Suicide Terrorism". The Atlantic. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
According to data from the Rand Corporation's chronology of international terrorism incidents, suicide attacks on average kill four times as many people as other terrorist acts.
- ^ Hassan, Riaz (September 3, 2009). "What Motivates the Suicide Bombers?". YaleGlobal. Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
- ^ (Click "Search Database", then under "filter by", click "location". Afghanistan (1059) Iraq (1938) and Pakistan (490) have a total 3487 attacks out of a total of 4620 worldwide.)"Year: 1982–2015. Group". Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism Suicide Attack Database. Archived from the original on 2016-01-24. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
- ^ Hutchinson, W. (March 2007). "The systemic roots of suicide bombing". Systems Research and Behavioral Science. 24 (2): 191–200. doi:10.1002/sres.824.
- ^ de la Corte Ibáñez, Luis (19 October 2014). "The Social Psychology of Suicide Terrorism". ict.org.il. International Institute for Counter Terrorism. Archived from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
Terrorism involves the use of force or violence in order to instill fear as a means of coercing individuals or groups to change their political or social positions which means that social influence is the ultimate goal of terrorism. Obviously we could say the same about suicide terrorism. [...] An alternative perspective views terrorism, including suicide terrorism, as tool: a means to an end and a tactic of warfare that anyone could use.
- ^ For example, 90% of attacks in Iraq prior to the civil war (starting in 2003) aimed at forcing out occupying forces. Pape's tabulation of suicide attacks runs from 1980 to early 2004 in Dying to Win and to 2009 in Cutting the Fuse.
- ^ Atran 2006, p. 127: " During 2000–2004, there were 472 suicide attacks in 22 countries, killing more than 7,000 and wounding tens of thousands. Most have been carried out by Islamist groups claiming religious motivation, also known as jihadis. Rand Corp. vice president and terrorism analyst Bruce Hoffman has found that 80 percent of suicide attacks since 1968 occurred after the September 11 attacks, with jihadis representing 31 of the 35 responsible groups."