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{{Short description|Violent attack in which the attacker accepts their own death}}
{{terrorism}}
{{Redirect-distinguish|Military suicide|Suicide in the military}}
A '''suicide attack''' is an attack in which the attacker or attackers intend and expect to die (see ]). ''In modern times'', such attacks are often carried out with the help of vehicles or ]s such as a ] (a '''suicide bombing'''), or both (i.e. a vehicle loaded with explosives). If everything goes to plan, the attacker is killed upon impact or ].
{{Copy edit|date=September 2023|for=tone, cohesion, and style}}], one of the most infamous suicide attacks.]]
{{Terrorism}}{{History of war}}
{{Suicide sidebar}}
A '''suicide attack''' is a deliberate ] in which the perpetrators ] as part of the attack. These attacks are often associated with ] or ] and are considered a form of ]. Suicide attacks involving ] are commonly referred to as '''suicide bombings'''. In the context of terrorism, they are also commonly referred to as '''suicide terrorism'''.<ref name=":2" /> While generally not inherently regulated under ], suicide attacks in their execution often violate international laws of war, such as prohibitions against ] and ].<ref>{{cite web |last=Hunter |first=Jane |date=June 5, 2015 |title=Suicide bombings: What does the law actually say? |url=https://aoav.org.uk/2015/suicide-bombings-what-does-the-law-say/ |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611185742/https://aoav.org.uk/2015/suicide-bombings-what-does-the-law-say/ |archive-date=June 11, 2015 |publisher=]}}</ref>


Suicide attacks have occurred in various contexts, ranging from military campaigns—such as the Japanese '']'' pilots during ] (1944–1945)—to more contemporary ] campaigns—including the ] in 2001. Initially, these attacks primarily targeted military, police, and public officials. This approach continued with groups like ], which combined mass civilian targets with political leadership.<ref name=":2" /> While only a few suicide attacks occurred between 1945 and 1980,<ref name="Pape-2003">{{cite journal|last1= Pape|first1= Robert |author1-link=Robert Pape |title=The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism |date= 27 August 2003|volume=97|issue=3|quote=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.|page=343|journal=]|doi= 10.1017/S000305540300073X|doi-broken-date= 1 November 2024 |hdl= 1811/31746|s2cid= 1019730|hdl-access= free}}</ref> between 1981 and September 2015, a total of 4,814 suicide attacks were carried out in over 40 countries,<ref name="CPoST">{{cite web |title= Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism. Suicide Attack Database |url= http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1 |website= Cpostdata.uchicago.edu |access-date= 24 March 2016 |archive-date= 24 January 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160124204240/http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1 |url-status= dead }}</ref> 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,{{sfn|Atran|2006|p=128}} and roughly one per day from 2003 to 2015.<ref name="CPoST" /> 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.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Marine-Corps-University-Press/Expeditions-with-MCUP-digital-journal/Escaping-Atonement-in-Sunni-Islam/ | title=Escaping Atonement in Sunni Islam }}</ref>
Suicide attacks are a kind of ], planned and organized by extremely ] military or ] groups. This tactic became widely known during the ] in the Pacific as ] ships were attacked by ] ] pilots who caused maximum damage by flying their explosive-laden ] into military targets. Since the ], the low cost and high lethality of the tactic have made it a favorite with ], ], and especially ] groups, notably in the ] and ]. The ] were, as of ], "unequivocally the most effective and brutal terrorist organization ever to utilize suicide terrorism" (according to Yoram Schweitzer of the Institute for ] in ]: ); since the Tigers signed a ] in ], suicide bombings by ] ], mostly in the ] and the ], have been the most frequent and cumulatively destructive. The ] used ] airplanes to become the largest and most destructive individual suicide attacks on one day.


Suicide attacks distinguish themselves from other terror attacks due to their heightened lethality and destructiveness.<ref name="Hoffman-6-2003">{{cite journal |last= Hoffman|first= Bruce|title= The Logic of Suicide Terrorism|journal= The Atlantic|date= June 2003|url= https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/06/the-logic-of-suicide-terrorism/302739/|access-date= 4 October 2015|quote= 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.}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Moghadam |first=Assaf | author-link =Assaf Moghadam |title=Root causes of suicide terrorism: the globalization of martyrdom |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-415-77029-3 |editor-last=Pedahzur |editor-first=Ami |edition=Reprinted |series=Cass series on political violence |location=London |pages=13–24 |chapter=Defining suicide terrorism}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Hoffman-6-2003" /> 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 ], ], ], the ], ], and ].<ref name="what">{{cite web|url= http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/what-motivates-suicide-bombers-0|title= What Motivates the Suicide Bombers?|last= Hassan|first= Riaz|work= YaleGlobal|publisher= Yale Center for the Study of Globalization|date= September 3, 2009|access-date= November 2, 2012|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131004215906/http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/what-motivates-suicide-bombers-0|archive-date= October 4, 2013}}</ref> By mid-2015, about three-quarters of all suicide attacks occurred in just three countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.<ref name="CPOST-LOC-total">(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.){{cite web|title= Year: 1982–2015. Group|url= http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|website= Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism Suicide Attack Database|access-date= 2015-11-20|archive-date= 2016-01-24|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160124204240/http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|url-status= dead}}</ref>
==Overview==
Military historians classify suicide bombing as a form of armed ], belonging to the tactics of ] — suicide bombings are only common when one side in a violent ] lacks the means for effective, conventional attacks. The ], expressed here by ] leader ], is simple: "The method of ] operation the most successful way of inflicting damage against the opponent and the least costly to the ] in terms of casualties" . The strategic rationale may be military, political, or both; the target may be military, in which case the bombing is usually classified as an act of war, or ], in which case it is usually considered terrorism. Civilians are the favored targets, being easier to attack than ] installations, ]s, or armed and wary ]s. The political message of the suicide bomber's ruthlessness and glorification of death is potent, and the difficulty of deterring an attacker who is willing to die sparks greater fear than other forms of terrorism. The fact that the attacker dies in the attack eliminates the need for the attacker to have a plan to escape and avoid capture after he has completed the attack. The regular targeting of civilians, however, often calls into question the ] legitimacy, and often erodes the broader credibility, of the bomber's cause (although in some of the perpetrating group's base population, it may enhance those qualities).


William Hutchinson (W. Hutchinson) describes suicide attacks as a weapon of ]<ref>{{cite journal|last= Hutchinson|first= W.|title= The systemic roots of suicide bombing|journal= Systems Research and Behavioral Science|volume= 24|issue= 2|date= March 2007|pages= 191–200|doi=10.1002/sres.824}}</ref> aimed at instilling fear in the target population,<ref name="ict-dlci">{{cite web|last1= de la Corte Ibáñez|first1= Luis|title= The Social Psychology of Suicide Terrorism|url= http://www.ict.org.il/Article/1233/The-Social-Psychology-of-Suicide-Terrorism|website= ict.org.il|publisher= International Institute for Counter Terrorism|access-date= 22 December 2015|date= 19 October 2014|quote= 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.|archive-date= 21 January 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220121085918/https://www.ict.org.il/Article/1233/The-Social-Psychology-of-Suicide-Terrorism|url-status= dead}}</ref> undermining areas where ] 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.<ref name="Hoffman-6-2003" /> Motivations for suicide attackers vary: '']'' pilots acted under military orders, while other attacks have been driven by ] or ] purposes. According to analyst ], prior to 2003, most attacks targeted occupying forces.<ref>For example, 90% of attacks in Iraq prior to the ] (starting in 2003) aimed at forcing out occupying forces. Pape's tabulation of suicide attacks runs from 1980 to early 2004 in ] and to 2009 in ].</ref> From 2000 to 2004, the ideology of ] played a predominant role in motivating the majority of bombers, as noted by anthropologist ].<ref name="Atran_127">{{harvnb|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."</ref>{{TOC limit|4}}
The bombers themselves may be male or female, with males more common in some venues (]s are common among the Tamil Tigers, Chechen rebels, Palestinian terrorists and the ]) and are often from ] backgrounds in countries with little ]. They are usually well-educated and hold strong political or ]; they are generally not ]-stricken or ], though some may have had difficult ]s. The ritualistic communion of the ] groups to which they belong ("lone wolf" suicide bombers are unknown), in addition to their strongly-held beliefs, helps motivate their decision to commit suicide; for the religious, e.g. ], the rewards of an afterlife may provide additional impetus. Coercion and deception are occasionally factors.
{{suicide}}
] station of the ] on ], 2004]]


==Terminology==
Suicide attacks throughout history have taken various forms and have been encouraged by the lionization of those who laid down their lives for causes they deemed righteous. There are numerous examples, from ]'s suicidal destruction of a ] temple (as recounted in the ]) to the legendary ] hero ] to the Japanese ] pilots of ]. The first modern suicide bombing&mdash;involving explosives deliberately carried to the target either on the person or in a civilian vehicle and delivered by surprise&mdash;was in ]; perfected by the factions of the ] and especially by the ] of ], the tactic had spread to dozens of countries by ]. Those hardest-hit were ] during its ], Sri Lanka during ], ] and the ] since ], and ] since the ].
The usage of the term "suicide attack" has a long history,{{citation needed|date=November 2015}} but "suicide bombing" dates back to at least 1940 when a '']'' article mentioned the term in relation to German tactics.<ref>"Germans Maintain Losing Airline Inside Panama Canal Defense Zone: Service in Ecuador Keeps 20 Pilots for Two Planes—Company Called Center of Fifth Column Activities New Route Planned Value in Case of War". Russell B. Porter,'']'', August 10, 1940, p. 6</ref> Less than two years later, the ''New York Times'' referred to a Japanese kamikaze attempt on an American carrier as a "suicide bombing".<ref>"CARRIER ROUTS FOE: Ships' and Planes' Fire Foils Japanese Raid Near Gilbert Isles A FIGHTER PILOT DOWNS 6 Fleet Force Escapes Damage, but Loses Two Aircraft – Suicide Dive Balked NAVY IN ACTION IN THE FAR PACIFIC U.S. CARRIER ROUTS 18 BOMBERS IN RAID DOWNED SIX PLANES", '']'', 4 March 1942, ROBERT F. WHITNEY.</ref> In 1945, '']'' referred to a ] plane as a "suicide-bomb"<ref>''The Times'' (London), August 21, 1945, p. 6</ref> and two years later, it referred to a new British pilot-less, radio-controlled rocket missile as originally designed "as a counter-measure to the Japanese 'suicide-bomber'".<ref>''The Times'' (London), April 15, 1947, p. 2, (quote) "Designed originally as a counter-measure to the Japanese 'suicide-bomber,' it is now a potent weapon for defence or offence" (The quotes are in the original and suggest that the phrase was an existing one.)</ref>


Suicide attacks include both suicide terrorism and attacks targeting combatants. ''Terrorism'' is often defined any action "intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants" for the purpose of intimidation.<ref>Definition given by ], March 2005 in the UN General Assembly, while Secretary General of the UN.{{cite web |title=Story: UN reform |url=https://www.un.org/unifeed/script.asp?scriptId=73 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070427012107/http://www.un.org/unifeed/script.asp?scriptId=73 |archive-date=2007-04-27 |access-date=2010-02-24 |publisher=United Nations}}</ref> An alternative definition provided by ]—a journalist who has lived among Islamic militants—suggests that most define terrorism as "the use or threat of serious violence" to advance some kind of "cause", stressing that terrorism is a tactic.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jason Burke|title=Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-_FJFFrit8AC|access-date=August 19, 2012|year=2004|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-85043-666-9|pages=1–24 (22)}}</ref> Academic ] has written that assigning the descriptor of "terrorist" or "terrorism" to the actions of a group is a tactic used by states to deny "legitimacy" and "rights to protest and rebel".<ref>F. Halliday. (2002). ''Two Hours that Shook the World: September 11, 2001&nbsp;– Causes and Consequences'', Saqi; {{ISBN|0-86356-382-1}}, pp. 70–71</ref></ref>]]
Responses and reactions to suicide bombings are mixed, so that a full assessment of the action's impact&mdash;especially whether it helped or hindered the cause in whose name it was carried out&mdash;is difficult. The public response of politicians is usually one of determination and condemnation. Military and ] are ] to disrupt or destroy the organization which planned the attack or, in Israel, to ] of bombers. Those who support the bomber's cause will often hold him up as a hero; ] ] groups like Al Qaeda, for example, lionize suicide bombers as ''Shahid'', or 'martyr'.
The definition of "suicide" in this context is also a matter of debate. Suicide terrorism itself has been defined by Ami Pedahzur, a professor of government, as "violent actions perpetrated by people who are aware that the odds they will return alive are close to zero".<ref>Pedahzur, p. 8</ref> Other sources exclude from their work "''suicidal''" or high risk attacks, such as the ] or "reckless charge in battle",<ref name=ICT-STDC/><ref name=Dodd>{{cite book|last1=Dodd|first1=Henry|title=A short history of suicide bombing|date=23 Aug 2013|publisher=Action on Armed Violence|url=https://aoav.org.uk/2013/a-short-history-of-suicide-bombings/|access-date=6 October 2015|quote=First of all let's be clear what kind of attacks we are talking about. Suicide bombings are those that involve the deliberate death of the perpetrator. We're not just talking about a reckless charge in battle. The focus is on those attacks where the perpetrator functions as a sophisticated guidance system for the weapon. They function as part human and part weapon. In this way they are suicide attacks rather than suicidal attacks.|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140125110530/https://aoav.org.uk/2013/a-short-history-of-suicide-bombings/|archive-date= January 25, 2014}}</ref> focusing only on true "suicide attacks", where the odds of survival are not "close to zero" but required to be zero, because "the perpetrator's ensured death is a precondition for the success of his mission".<ref name=ICT-STDC>{{cite web|author=Yoram Schweitzer|author-link=Yoram Schweitzer|url=http://www.ict.org.il/Articles/tabid/66/Articlsid/42/Default.aspx|title=Suicide Terrorism: Development and Characteristics|publisher=]|date=April 21, 2000|access-date=March 22, 2015|quote=... a very specific kind of attack. It does not deal with the very high-risk terror operations that leave only little chance of survival to their perpetrators. Such attacks as the Japanese Red Army's (JRA) attack at Lod airport in 1972, Abu Nidal's attack on a synagogue in Istanbul in 1986 and the PFLP-GC hand-glider attack on an army barracks in Kiryat Shmona in 1987 fall outside the scope of this paper. Also excluded were the self-inflicted deaths of members of terrorist organization, ... a politically motivated violent attack perpetrated by a self-aware individual (or individuals) who actively and purposely causes his own death through blowing himself up along with his chosen target. ... the perpetrator's ensured death is a precondition for the success of his mission."|archive-date=May 27, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527191602/http://www.ict.org.il/Articles/tabid/66/Articlsid/42/Default.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>


Also excluded from the definition are "]ings", which may have political goals and be designed to look like a suicide bombing, but in which the "proxy" is forced to carry a bomb under threat (such as having their children killed), or where the proxy isn't fully aware that they are delivering a bomb that will kill them. The definition also generally excludes ]s in which the perpetrators commit suicide, as the shooter committing suicide is a separate act from shooting their victims. Further distinction is how many of such shootings (such as the ], the ] or ] in the U.S.) are driven by personal and psychological reasons, rather than political, social or religious motives.<ref name=LANKFORD-17-12-2012>{{cite news|last1=Lankford|first1=Adam|title=What Drives Suicidal Mass Killers|newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/opinion/what-drives-suicidal-mass-killers.html|access-date=7 October 2015|agency=The New York Times|date=17 December 2012|quote=For years, the conventional wisdom has been that suicide terrorists are rational political actors, while suicidal rampage shooters are mentally disturbed loners. But the two groups have far more in common than has been recognized. ... Although suicide terrorists may share the same beliefs as the organizations whose propaganda they spout, they are primarily motivated by the desire to kill and be killed&nbsp;— just like most rampage shooters.}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2023}}
The term dates back to the ], when it was used in reference to certain ] and Japanese battle tactics, but did not gain its present meaning until ]. Various alternate terms have been used to ] the act differently: the Islamist use of ''shahid'' for the bomber or '']'' for the bombing emphasize the self-sacrificial aspects, while the term "homicide bombing" (preferred phraseology of the ] Administration and right-leaning ] outlets such as the ]) emphasizes the fact that the bomber kills others.

It may not always be clear to investigators which type of killing is which—suicide attack campaigns sometimes use proxy bombers (as alleged in Iraq)<ref name=OPPEL-NYT-5-7-2008>{{cite news|last1=Oppel|first1=Richared A. Jr.|title=2 American Soldiers Are Killed in Insurgent Attacks in Iraq|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/world/middleeast/27baghdad.html?pagewanted=print&_r=0|access-date=7 October 2015|work=]|date=May 27, 2008|quote=in Mosul, Iraqi security forces raided a house and found six Iraqi boys 15 to 18 years old preparing to become suicide bombers, a police official in Mosul said. According to The Associated Press, four of the boys appeared before local reporters at Mosul police headquarters on Monday, including one who wept and said that a Saudi fighter "threatened to rape our mothers and sisters, destroy our houses and kill our fathers if we did not cooperate with him."}}</ref> or manipulate the vulnerable to become bombers.<ref name=Dodd/><ref name=Azami>{{cite news|last1=Azami|first1=Dawood|title=How the Taliban groom child suicide bombers|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27250144|access-date=9 October 2015|agency=BBC News|date=15 December 2014|quote=In some cases, were given an amulet containing Koranic verses and told it would help them survive. Some handlers gave children keys to hang round their necks and were told the gates of paradise will open for them}}</ref> At least one researcher (]) argues that the motivation to kill and be killed connects some suicide attackers more closely to "suicidal rampage" murderers than is commonly thought.<ref name=LANKFORD-17-12-2012/>

===Other terms===
] supporters often call a suicide attack '']'' (often translated as "]") and the suicide attacker '']'' (pl. ''shuhada'', "witness" and usually translated as "martyr"), the idea being that the attacker died in order to testify his faith in God, such as while waging '']'' (] by the sword). The term "suicide" is never used because Islam has ] against taking one's own life. The terms ''Istishhad'' / "martyrdom operation" have been embraced by the ] as well as by ], ], ] and other Palestinian factions.<ref name=Moghadam-16>{{cite book|last1=Moghadam|first1=Assaf| author-link =Assaf Moghadam |editor1-last=Pedahzur|editor1-first=Ami|title=Root Causes of Suicide Terrorism: The Globalization of Martyrdom|date=2006|publisher=Routledge |location=Oxon, NY|isbn=978-0415770293|page=16|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aAGTAgAAQBAJ&q=use+the+term++MARTYRDOM+OPERATIONS&pg=PA16|access-date=6 October 2015}}</ref>

Some efforts have been made to replace the term "suicide bombing" with "homicide bombing", on the grounds that, since the primary purpose of such a bombing is to kill other people, "homicide" is a more apt adjective than "suicide". The only major media outlets to use it were ] and the '']'', both of which are owned by ] and have since mostly abandoned the term.<ref>{{Cite book|author=L. Khan|title=A Theory of International Terrorism: Understanding Islamic Militancy|publisher=Brill Academic Publishers|location=Boston, MA|year=2006|isbn=978-90-04-15207-6|pages=97–98}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Tim Grieve |url=http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/10/31/fox/index.html |title=Fox News: The inside story |work=Salon.com |date=October 31, 2003 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204084700/http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/10/31/fox/index.html |archive-date=February 4, 2011}}</</ref> Robert Goldney, a professor emeritus at the ], has argued in favor of the term "homicide bomber", arguing that studies show that there is little in common between people who blow themselves up intending to kill as many people as possible in the process and actual suicide victims.<ref>{{cite web|title=Why it's 'homicide bomber' not 'suicide bomber'|url=http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-09-homicide-bomber-suicide.html|website=medicalxpress.com|access-date=2016-02-09}}</ref> Fox News producer Dennis Murray argued that a suicidal act should be reserved for a person who does something to kill themselves only. CNN producer Christa Robinson argued that the term "homicide bomber" was not specific enough, stating that "A homicide bomber could refer to someone planting a bomb in a trash can."<ref name=Moghadam-16/><ref>{{cite news|author=Peter Johnson|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/access/113807077.html?dids=113807077:113807077&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+15%2C+2002&author=Peter+Johnson&pub=USA+TODAY&desc=Homicide+bomber+vs.+suicide+bomber&pqatl=google|title=Homicide bomber vs. suicide bomber|access-date=March 22, 2015|work=]|archive-date=November 5, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105042612/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/access/113807077.html?dids=113807077:113807077&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+15,+2002&author=Peter+Johnson&pub=USA+TODAY&desc=Homicide+bomber+vs.+suicide+bomber&pqatl=google|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2002/04/13/annan-wants-peacekeepers-in-middle-east/ | title=Annan wants peacekeepers in Middle East }}</ref>

"Genocide bombing" was coined in 2002 by ], a member of the Canadian parliament, in an effort to focus attention on the alleged intention of ] by militant ] in their calls to "]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hfienberg.com/kesher/2002/06/genocide-bombing-two-months-after.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090628154737/http://www.hfienberg.com/kesher/2002/06/genocide-bombing-two-months-after.html|archive-date=2009-06-28|title=Kesher Talk|date=2002-06-24|access-date=2006-05-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20040423-081806-2252r.htm|title=Targets|work=Washington Times|date=April 23, 2004|access-date=May 13, 2006}}</ref> In German-speaking areas the term "sacrifice bombing" (Ger. ''Opferanschlag'') was proposed in 2012 by German scholar Arata Takeda.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Takeda, Arata|title=Das regressive Menschenopfer: Vom eigentlichen Skandalon des gegenwärtigen Terrorismus|url=http://www.humanistische-union.de/fileadmin/hu_upload/media/vorg2/vorg197_Takeda.pdf|year=2012 |journal=Vorgänge&nbsp;– Zeitschrift für Bürgerrechte und Gesellschaftspolitik|volume=51|issue=1|pages=116–129}}</ref> The term is intended to shift the focus away from the suicide of the perpetrators and towards their use as weapons by their commanders.

==History, pre-1980==
The first-century AD Jewish ] sect are thought to have carried out suicidal attacks<ref name=ICT-STDC/> against Hellenized Jews they considered immoral collaborators.<ref name=Hassan-2011-8>{{cite book|last1=Hassan|first1=Riaz|title=Suicide Bombings|date=2011|publisher=Taylor & Francis.|page=8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DgQ_opkHdJ0C&q=Jewish++sect+suicidal&pg=PA8|access-date=13 October 2015|isbn=9781136804526}}</ref> The Hashishiyeen (]) sect of Ismaili Shi'a Muslims assassinated two caliphs, as well as many viziers, sultans and Crusader leaders over a 300-year period<ref name=Acosta-21>{{cite book|last1=Acosta|first1=Benjamin|editor1-last=Stanton|editor1-first=Andrea L.|editor2-last=Ramsamy|editor2-first=Edward|title=Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia|date=2012|publisher=Sage|page=21|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GtCL2OYsH6wC&q=history+Hashishin+killed+caliphs&pg=PA21|access-date=13 October 2015|chapter=Assassins|isbn=9781412981767}}</ref> before being annihilated by ] invaders. Hashishiyeen were known for their targeting of the powerful, their use of the dagger as a weapon (rather than something safer for the assassin such as a crossbow), and for making no attempt to escape after completing their killing.<ref name=ARSI-BL-xii/>

] became a hero in the Swiss struggle for independence when he sacrificed himself at the ] in 1386.

The earliest known non-military suicide attack occurred in ], New Zealand, on 14 July 1905. When a long-standing dispute between two farmers resulted in a court case, the defendant (Joseph Sewell) arrived with sticks of ] strapped to his body. When during the court proceedings Sewell excitedly shouted "I'll blow the devil to hell, and I have enough dynamite to do just that", he was ushered out of the building. Sewell detonated the charge when a police officer tried to arrest him on the street, blowing his body to pieces. No one other than Sewell was killed by the attack.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Murchison Tragedy |url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=NEM19050715.2.18 |access-date=17 January 2016 |work=] |volume=XL |date=15 July 1905 |page=2}}</ref>

===India===

In 1780, an ] woman named ] applied ] and oil onto her body and set herself ablaze. She then jumped into an armoury of the ], causing it to explode. This suicide attack helped to secure victory for her queen, ], in the battle.<ref>{{cite news |title=Tamil Nadu to build memorial for freedom fighter Kuyili |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Tamil-Nadu-to-build-memorial-for-freedom-fighter-Kuyili/articleshow/20075937.cms |access-date=13 August 2014|newspaper=Times of india |date=16 May 2013 |location=Chennai, India}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Velu Nachiyar & Kuyili: The Women Who Took Down The British 85 Yrs Before 1857! |url=https://www.thebetterindia.com/157316/news-india-independence-women-fighters-british-raj/ |access-date=28 August 2018|location=Chennai, India}}</ref>
<ref name=r1>. ''The News Minute''. 3 January 2017</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Of woman power and Tamizh glory|url=https://www.news18.com/news/india/of-woman-power-and-tamizh-glory-375394.html|newspaper=IBN Live|date=14 June 2011|location=Chennai, India}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Veeramangai Velu Nachiyar|url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/cover/veeramangai-velu-nachiyar/article26016399.ece|newspaper=The Hindu Business Line|date=18 January 2019|location=Chennai, India}}</ref>

===Dutch===
In the late 17th century, ] official ] recorded that injured ] soldiers fighting against ]'s forces for control of Taiwan in 1661 would use gunpowder to blow up both themselves and their opponents rather than be taken prisoner.<ref>{{cite book|last=Yu|first=Yonghe|title=Small Sea Travel Diaries|year=2004|publisher=SMC Publishing Inc.|isbn=978-957-638-629-9|page=196|editor=Macabe Keliher}}</ref> However, Yu may have confused such suicidal tactics with the standard Dutch military practice of undermining and blowing up overrun positions, which almost cost Koxinga his life during the ].<ref>{{cite book|first1=William|last1=Campbell|author-link=William Campbell (missionary)|title=Formosa under the Dutch: Described from Contemporary Records|year=1903|publisher=Kegan Paul|lccn=04007338|oclc=66707733|url=https://archive.org/details/formosaunderdut01campgoog|page=|isbn=9789576380839|access-date=April 18, 2015}}</ref>

On 5 February 1831, during the ], a gale blew a Dutch ] under the command of ] into the quay of the ]. As the ship was stormed by Belgians, van Speyk refused to surrender, instead igniting the ship's gunpowder with either his gun or cigar, blowing up the ship. The explosion killed 28 out of the 31 crewmen and an unknown number of Belgians.

===Aceh===
Muslim ] from the ] performed suicide attacks known as ''Parang-sabil'' against Dutch invaders during the ]. It was considered as part of personal ] in the Islamic religion of the Acehnese. The Dutch called it ''Atjèh-moord'',<ref>{{cite book|title=Atjeh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JXMeAAAAIAAJ&q=Atj%C3%A8h-moord&pg=PA613|year=1878|publisher=Brill Archive|pages=613–|id=GGKEY:JD7T75Q7T5G}}</ref><ref name="Kreemer1923">{{cite book|author=J. Kreemer|title=Atjèh: algemeen samenvattend overzicht van land en volk van Atjèh en onderhoorigheden|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kzosAAAAMAAJ&q=Atj%C3%A8h-moord|year=1923|publisher=E.J. Brill|page=613}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/6515130|title=A Crazy State: Violence, Psychiatry, and Colonialism in Aceh, Indonesia, ca. 1910–1942|first=David |last=Kloos|journal=Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde|access-date=12 December 2016}}</ref> (literally "Aceh-murder"). The Acehnese work of literature, the ''] Perang Sabil'' provided the background and reasoning for the "Aceh-mord"—Acehnese suicide attacks upon the Dutch.<ref name="BraithwaiteBraithwaite2010">{{cite book |author1=John Braithwaite |author2=Valerie Braithwaite |author3=Michael Cookson |author4=Leah Dunn |title=Anomie and Violence: Non-truth and Reconciliation in Indonesian Peacebuilding |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OrdM8X7CBTAC&q=Acehmord&pg=PA347 |year=2010 |publisher=ANU E Press |isbn=978-1-921666-23-0 |page=347ff}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://press.anu.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/ch0617.pdf |title=6. Aceh |publisher=Press.anu.edu.au |year=2010 |page=343 |doi=10.22459/AV.03.2010 |access-date=2016-01-17|last1=Braithwaite |first1=John |last2=Braithwaite |first2=Valerie |last3=Cookson |first3=Michael |last4=Dunn |first4=Leah |isbn=9781921666223 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/18313161 |title=Anomie and Violence: Non-Truth and Reconciliation in Indonesian Peacebuilding &#124; John Braithwaite |website=Academia.edu |date=1970-01-01 |access-date=2016-01-17|last1=Braithwaite |first1=John }}</ref> The Indonesian translations of the Dutch terms are Aceh bodoh (Aceh pungo) or Aceh gila (Aceh mord).<ref name="Ahmad(Indonesia)1992">{{cite book|author1=Sayed Mudhahar Ahmad|author2=Aceh Selatan (Indonesia)|title=Ketika pala mulai berbunga: seraut wajah Aceh Selatan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I65yAAAAMAAJ&q=Mereka+ini+terkenal+memiliki+keberanian+luar+biasa+dan+tidak+takut+maut.+Orang-orang+semacam+itu+dijuluki+Belanda+sebagai+pengidap+penyakit+Aceh+mord+%28Aceh+gila%29,+yang+dalam+bahasa+Aceh+disebut+Aceh+pungo+%28Aceh+bodoh%29.+Belanda+...|year=1992|publisher=Pemda Aceh Selatan|page=131}}</ref>

''Atjèh-moord'' was also used against the Japanese by the Acehnese during the ].<ref name="Piekaar1949">{{cite book|author=A. J. Piekaar|title=Atjèh en de oorlog met Japan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=txYyAQAAIAAJ&q=Atj%C3%A8h-moord|year=1949|publisher=W. van Hoeve|page=3}}</ref> The Acehnese ] (Islamic Scholars) fought against both the Dutch and the Japanese, revolting against the Dutch in February 1942 and against Japan in November 1942. The revolt was led by the All-Aceh Religious Scholars' Association (PUSA). The Japanese suffered 18 dead in the uprising while they slaughtered up to 100 or over 120 Acehnese.<ref name="Ricklefs 2001">, p. 252.</ref><ref>, p. 47.</ref> The revolt happened in Bayu and was centred around Tjot Plieng village's religious school.<ref>, p. 27.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atjehcyber.net/2011/08/sejarah-jejak-perlawanan-aceh.html |title=Sejarah Jejak Perlawanan Aceh |website=Atjehcyber.net |date=2011-08-10 |access-date=2016-01-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427002230/http://www.atjehcyber.net/2011/08/sejarah-jejak-perlawanan-aceh.html |archive-date=2016-04-27 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://issuu.com/waspada/docs/waspada__sabtu_17_maret_2012/3 |title=Waspada, Sabtu 17 Maret 2012 by Harian Waspada |website=Issuu.com |date=16 March 2012 |access-date=2016-01-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://issuu.com/waspada/docs/waspada__sabtu_17_maret_2012 |title=Waspada, Sabtu 17 Maret 2012 by Harian Waspada |website=Issuu.com |date=16 March 2012 |access-date=2016-01-17}}</ref> During the revolt, the Japanese troops armed with mortars and machine guns were charged by sword wielding Acehnese under Teungku Abduldjalil (Tengku Abdul Djalil) in Buloh Gampong Teungah and Tjot Plieng on 10 and 13 November.<ref>, p. 35.</ref><ref>, p. 89.</ref> In May 1945 the Acehnese rebelled again.<ref>, p. 189.</ref>

===Moro juramentado===
{{Main|Juramentado}}

] who performed suicide attacks were called ''mag-sabil'', and the suicide attacks were known as ''Parang-sabil''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.academia.edu/1921767|title=Al Harakatul Al Islamiyyah: Essays on the Abu Sayyaf Group by Rommel Banlaoi|first=Rommel|last=Banlaoi|via=www.academia.edu}}</ref> The Spanish called them '']s''. The idea of the juramentado was considered part of ] in the Moros' Islamic religion. During an attack, a juramentado would throw himself at his targets and kill them with bladed weapons such as ] and ] until he himself was killed. The Moros performed juramentado suicide attacks against the Spanish in the ] of the 16th to the 19th centuries, against the Americans in the ] (1899–1913), and ].<ref>{{cite book|title=Sultans, Shamans, and Saints: Islam and Muslims in Southeast Asia|first=Howard M.|last=Federspiel|edition=illustrated|year=2007|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Qf39DpguysC&pg=PA125|page=125|isbn=978-0-8248-3052-6|access-date=March 10, 2014}}</ref>

The Moro juramentados aimed their attacks specifically against their enemies, not against non-Muslims in general. They launched suicide attacks on the Japanese, Spanish, Americans and Filipinos, but did not attack the non-Muslim Chinese as the Chinese were not considered enemies of the Moro people.<ref>{{cite book|title=Filipino Heritage: The Spanish Colonial period (Late 19th Century): The awakening|first=Alfredo R.|last=Roces|volume=7 of Filipino Heritage: The Making of a Nation, Alfredo R. Roces|publisher=Lahing Pilipino Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xMkRAQAAMAAJ&q=The+juram+en+tado+'+s+act+was+occasionally+performed+against+the+Japanese+during+World+War+II%C2%97+and+the+Japanese+were+clearly+defined+as+enemies.+The+juramentado+never+went+after+Chinese+residents+in+spite+of+the+fact+that+the+Chinese+were+non-Muslims|page=1702|access-date=March 10, 2014|year=1978}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Filipino Heritage: The Spanish colonial period (late 19th century)|first=Alfredo R.|last=Roces|volume=7 of Filipino Heritage: The Making of a Nation|year=1978|publisher=Lahing (Manila)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=akNvAAAAMAAJ&q=The+juramentado's+act+was+occasionally+performed+against+the+Japanese+during+World+War+1+1+—and+the+Japanese+were+clearly+defined+as+enemies.+The+juramentado+never+went+after+Chinese+residents+in+spite+of+the+fact+that+the+Chinese+were+non-Muslim.|page=1702|access-date=March 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Filipinas, Volume 11, Issues 117–128|year=2002|publisher=Filipinas Pub.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wvkMAQAAMAAJ&q=The+juramentado's+act+was+occasionally+performed+against+the+Japanese+during+World+War+1+1+—and+the+Japanese+were+clearly+defined+as+enemies.+The+juramentado+never+went+after+Chinese+residents+in+spite+of+the+fact+that+the+Chinese+were+non-Muslim.|access-date=March 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Understanding Islam and Muslims in the Philippines|editor-first=Peter G.|editor-last= Gowing|edition=illustrated|year=1988|publisher= New Day Publishers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-H25AAAAIAAJ&q=In+spite+of+the+individual+nature+of+many+juramentados,+the+fact+remains+that+it+was+never+done+against+members+of+ethnic+groups+who+were+not+considered+military+and+religious+enemies+of+the+Tausug.+Chinese,+for+example,+in+spite+of+their+status+as+non-+Moslems,+were+seldom+molested.+As+one+man+put+it,+%22There+is+no+sense+killing+the+Chinese|page=56|isbn=978-9711003869|access-date=March 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kiefer|first1= Th. M.|title=Parrang Sabbil: Ritual suicide among the Tausug of Jolo|journal=Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde|date=January 1, 1973|volume=129|issue=1|page=111|doi=10.1163/22134379-90002734|doi-access=free}}</ref> The Japanese responded to these suicide attacks by massacring all known family members and relatives of the attacker(s).<ref>{{cite book|title=Midnight on Mindanao: Wartime Remembances 1945–1946|year=2008|publisher=iUniverse|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6T39iCmUzMkC&pg=PA47|pages=47–48|isbn=978-0-595-63260-2|access-date=March 10, 2014}}</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111203932/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADB068659%26amp;Location=U2%26amp;doc=GetTRDoc.pdf |date=2011-11-11 }}, p. 161.</ref>

According to historian Stephan Dale, the Moro were not the only Muslims who carried out suicide attacks "in their fight against Western hegemony and colonial rule". In the 18th century, suicide tactics were used on the Malabar coast of southwestern India, and in Atjeh (Acheh) in Northern Sumatra as well.<ref name=ICT-STDC/><ref>"," Stephen Fredric Dale, Department of History Ohio State University.</ref>

===Russia===
The first known suicide bomber was a Russian man named ].<ref name=lewis-2013>{{cite journal|last1=Lewis|first1=Jeffrey William|title=The Human Use of Human Beings: A Brief History of Suicide Bombing|journal=Origins|date=April 2013|volume=6|issue=7|url=http://origins.osu.edu/article/human-use-human-beings-brief-history-suicide-bombing|access-date=21 October 2015}}</ref> The invention of dynamite in the 1860s presented revolutionary and terrorist groups in Europe with a weapon nearly 20 times more powerful than gunpowder. However, using dynamite required overcoming the technical challenges of detonating it at the right time. One solution was to use a human trigger, which was the technique used to assassinate Tsar ] in 1881.<ref name=lewis-2013/>
<ref>{{cite book|last1=Naimark|first1=Norman M.|author-link1=Norman M. Naimark|chapter=Terrorism and the fall of Imperial Russia|editor1-last=Rapoport|editor1-first=David C.|editor1-link=David C. Rapoport|title=Terrorism: The first or anarchist wave|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rjSjAUcH0vsC|series=Terrorism: Critical Concepts in Political Science|volume=1|publisher=Taylor & Francis|date=2006|page=280|isbn=9780415316514|access-date=2015-04-17|quote= ] and ] carefully planned another attempt on the life of the Tsar. They rented a shop on Malaia Sadovaia, a street frequented by the Tsar, and dug a tunnel from the basement under the street. Zheliabov was arrested on 27 February 1881, and Perovskaia took charge of the assassination, planned for 1 March. This time they got their prey: the explosives placed under the street failed to detonate, but the second of two suicide bombers fatally wounded the Tsar.}}</ref> A would-be suicide-bomber killed ], the Russian Minister of the Interior, in St Petersburg in 1904.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Julicher|first1=Peter|title=Renegades, Rebels and Rogues Under the Tsars|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cnN_x0ssn40C|publisher=McFarland|date=2003|page=229|isbn=9780786416127|access-date=2015-04-17|quote=]] recruited Yegor Sazonov, a former medical student, who was willing to sacrifice himself to accomplish the deed. n July 15 (28), 1904, a determined Sazonov ran through a crowd of onlookers and positioned himself in front of the approaching carriage just in time. When it swerved to avoid him, he threw his bomb through the side window. The explosion killed Plehve and left Sazonov badly injured.}}</ref>

===Chinese suicide squads===
{{further|Martyrdom in Chinese culture}}
].]]
During the ] (the Revolution of 1911) and the ] of the ], "]" ({{zh|s=敢死队|t=敢死隊|p=gǎnsǐduì|w=Kan-ssu-tui|first=t}}) or "Suicide squads"<ref>* {{cite web|author=LEAR|title=词语"敢死队"的解释汉典zdic.net|url=http://www.zdic.net/c/2/2B/67998.htm|access-date=November 7, 2014}}
* {{cite web|title=敢死队的意思,含义,拼音,读音-敢死队的汉语词典解释|url=http://cidian.xpcha.com/9e7g5dxwqhb.html|access-date=November 7, 2014|archive-date=August 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811163900/http://cidian.xpcha.com/9e7g5dxwqhb.html|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite web|title=6. 敢死队 gǎnsǐduì|url=http://today.zgxc.org.cn/content.php?typeid=5&id=28788|access-date=12 December 2016|archive-date=21 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821183438/http://today.zgxc.org.cn/content.php?typeid=5&id=28788|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite web|author=海词词典|title=dare-to-die ship|url=http://dict.cn/dare-to-die%20ship|access-date=November 7, 2014}}
* {{cite web|title=a dare-to-die corps 的翻译是:敢死队是什么意思?英文翻译中文,中文|url=http://www.woyaofanyi.com/translate_1554934.html|access-date=November 7, 2014|archive-date=October 30, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030000518/http://www.woyaofanyi.com/translate_1554934.html|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite web|title=敢死队, a dare-to-die corps,音标,读音,翻译,英文例句,英语词典|url=http://www.dictall.com/indu53/67/5367062169C.htm|access-date=12 December 2016}}
* {{cite web|title=a dare-to-die corps – 中英文在线翻译英语在线翻译|url=http://www.haodic.com/query/a%20dare-to-die%20corps|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030125833/http://www.haodic.com/query/a%20dare-to-die%20corps/|archive-date=October 30, 2014|access-date=November 7, 2014}}
* {{cite web|title=敢死队 – 汉语词典 – 911查询|url=http://cidian.911cha.com/MWNjbG8=.html|access-date=November 7, 2014}}</ref><ref name="GlickHong1947">{{cite book|author1=Carl Glick|author2=Sheng hwa Hong|title=Swords of silence: Chinese secret societies, past and present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tP_NAAAAMAAJ&q=dare+to+die+swords+china|year=1947|publisher=Whittlesey House}}</ref> were frequently used by Chinese armies. China deployed these suicide units against the Japanese during the ].

In the Xinhai Revolution, many Chinese revolutionaries became martyrs in battle. "Dare to Die" student corps were founded for student revolutionaries wanting to fight against Qing dynasty rule. ] and ] promoted the Dare to Die corps. Huang said, "We must die, so let us die bravely."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=51Fpis0D1v0C&q=dare+to+die+china&pg=PA263|title=Sun Yat Sen and the Chinese Republic|first=Aul|last=Linebarger|year=2008|publisher=READ BOOKS|page=263|isbn=978-1443724388|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref> Suicide squads were formed by Chinese students going into battle, knowing that they would be killed fighting against overwhelming odds.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B_UnAAAAMAAJ&q=This+is+a+suicide+squad%3B+don't+come+with+us,+please.%22|title=China yearbook|year=1975|publisher=China Pub. Co.|page=657|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref>

The ] died in the uprising that began the ], and were recognized as heroes and martyrs by the ] party and the ].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5bpAAAAIAAJ&q=Yu+Pei-lun+martyr|title=Selected speeches and messages|first=Kai-shek|last=Chiang|year=1968|publisher=Government Information Office|page=21|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref> The martyrs in the Dare to Die Corps who died in battle wrote letters to family members before heading off to certain death. The Huanghuakang was built as a monument to the 72 martyrs.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hOeeAAAAIAAJ&q=dare+to+die+china&pg=PA93|title=Huang Hsing and the Chinese revolution|author=Chün-tu Hsüeh|year=1961|publisher=Stanford University Press|page=93|isbn=978-0-8047-0031-3|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref> The deaths of the revolutionaries helped the establishment of the Republic of China, overthrowing the Qing dynasty imperial system.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wm7VAAAAMAAJ&q=It+was+the+martyrs%27+blood+which+paved+the+way+for+the+founding+of+the+Republic+of+China|title=Free China review, Volume 14|year=1964|publisher=W.Y. Tsao|page=88|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref> Other Dare to Die student corps in the Xinhai revolution were led by students who later became major military leaders in Republic of China, like ],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=03catqbPCmgC&q=dare+to+die+china&pg=PA23|title=The generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the struggle for modern China, Volume 39|first=Jay|last=Taylor|year=2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|page=23|isbn=978-0-674-03338-2|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref> and ] with the Muslim ] against Qing dynasty forces.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r3AJFusMHJwC&q=pai+ch'ung-hsi+dare+to+die&pg=PA51|title=Biographical dictionary of Republican China, Volume 3|first1=Howard L.|last1=Boorman|first2=Richard C.|last2=Howard|first3=Joseph K. H.|last3=Cheng|year=1979|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York City|isbn=978-0-231-08957-9|page=51|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asia.ubc.ca/page/6/?profile_cct_group|title=Yip So Man Wat Memorial Lectures, 2013|author=Pai Hsien-yung|date=2013|website=UBC DEPARTMENT OF ASIAN STUDIES|page=6|access-date=August 3, 2014}}</ref>
"Dare to Die" troops were used by warlords.<ref>{{cite book|title=Chinese Civil War Armies 1911–49|first=Philip S.|last=Jowett|volume=306|edition=illustrated|year=1997|publisher=Osprey Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ck6IumJLdPkC&pg=PA14|page=14|isbn=978-1855326651|access-date=April 24, 2014}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The ] used one to put down an insurrection in Canton.<ref>{{cite news|title=PART ONE CHIANG VERSUS COMMUNISM: HIS PERSONAL ACCOUNT|author=Chiang Kai-shek|newspaper=LIFE Magazine Vol. 42, No. 25|date=June 24, 1957|page=147|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IT8EAAAAMBAJ&q=dare+to+die+china&pg=PA147|access-date=July 28, 2010|author-link=Chiang Kai-shek}}</ref> Many women joined them in addition to men to achieve martyrdom against China's opponents.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cZ3V9umMPf8C&q=Other+women+in+joining+the+%22Dare+to+Die%22+Regiments+later+on,+saw+her+as+a+model+for+rebellion+against+the+enemies+of+China.+One+of+her+last+poems+was+particularly+well-known+because+it+combined+the+themes+of+her|title=Women in modern China: transition, revolution, and contemporary times|author=Marjorie Wall Bingham, Susan Hill Gross|year=1980|publisher=Glenhurst Publications|page=34|isbn=978-0-86596-028-2|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YYpIAAAAYAAJ&q=dare+to+die+china&pg=PA79|title=China review, Volume 1|year=1921|publisher=China Trade Bureau, Inc.|page=79|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref> They were known as 烈士 "Lit-she" (Martyrs) after accomplishing their mission.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Carl Glick|author2=Sheng hwa Hong|title=Swords of silence: Chinese secret societies, past and present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tP_NAAAAMAAJ&q=Lit-she|year=1947|publisher=Whittlesey House|page=202}}</ref>

During the ], a Dare to Die squad struck against the Japanese.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

Suicide bombing was also used against the Japanese. A "dare to die corps" was effectively used against Japanese units at the ]. They used swords<ref name="Fenby2003">{{cite book|title=Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the China He Lost|first=Jonathan|last=Fenby|year=2003|publisher=Simon and Schuster|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PNJOxyP0SqEC&q=dare+to+die+corps+swords&pg=PA319|pages=318–319|isbn=978-0743231442|access-date=April 24, 2014}}</ref><ref name="Fenby2008">{{cite book|author=Jonathan Fenby|title=Modern China: The Fall and Rise of a Great Power, 1850 to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8VIUAQAAIAAJ&q=dare+to+die+taierzhuang+swords|date=24 June 2008|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-166116-7|page=284}}</ref> and wore suicide vests made out of grenades.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://war.163.com/15/0427/09/AO6TATTL00014OMD.html |title=台儿庄巷战:长官电令有敢退过河者 杀无赦_网易军事<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2016-03-16 |archive-date=2018-06-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619140144/http://war.163.com/15/0427/09/AO6TATTL00014OMD.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.88p4.com/2015/04/27/taierzhuang-street-fighting-executive-power-to-make-those-who-have-dared-to-retreat-across-the-river-unforgiven-124486.html|title=Taierzhuang street fighting : Executive power to make those who have dared to retreat across the river Unforgiven – Netease International News|first=Bun|last=Wong|access-date=12 December 2016|archive-date=20 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020023846/http://www.88p4.com/2015/04/27/taierzhuang-street-fighting-executive-power-to-make-those-who-have-dared-to-retreat-across-the-river-unforgiven-124486.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A Chinese soldier detonated a grenade vest and killed 20 Japanese soldiers at ]. Chinese troops ] and threw themselves under Japanese tanks to blow them up.<ref>{{Cite thesis|last=Schaedler|first=Luc|title=Angry Monk: Reflections on Tibet: Literary, Historical, and Oral Sources for a Documentary Film|type=Thesis Presented to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Zurich For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy|url=http://www.zora.uzh.ch/17710/3/Angry_Monk_Dissertation.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140719204815/http://www.zora.uzh.ch/17710/3/Angry_Monk_Dissertation.pdf|archive-date=2014-07-19|year=2007|page=518|publisher=University of Zurich, Faculty of Arts|access-date=April 24, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> This tactic was used during the ], to stop a Japanese tank column when an attacker exploded himself beneath the lead tank,<ref>{{cite book|title=Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze|first=Peter|last=Harmsen|edition=illustrated|year=2013|publisher=Casemate|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jpPUAgAAQBAJ&q=shanghai+grenade+tanks+japanese&pg=PT127|page=112|isbn=978-1612001678|access-date=April 24, 2014}}</ref> and at the Battle of Taierzhuang where Chinese troops with dynamite and grenades strapped to themselves rushed Japanese tanks and blew themselves up,<ref>{{cite book|title=China Condensed: 5000 Years of History & Culture|first=Siew Chey|last=Ong|edition=illustrated|year=2005|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bt7q8hfiZ4gC&q=taierzhuang+suicide+bombers&pg=PA94|page=94|isbn=978-9812610676|access-date=24 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://numistamp.com/Taierzhuang-1938----Stalingrad-1942-(Page-1).php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709203351/http://numistamp.com/Taierzhuang-1938----Stalingrad-1942-%28Page-1%29.php|url-status=dead|archive-date=2011-07-09|title=Taierzhuang 1938&nbsp;– Stalingrad 1942|last1=Olsen|first1=Lance|date=2012|via=Numistamp|publisher=Clear Mind Publishing|isbn=978-0-9838435-9-7|access-date=April 24, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://grognard.com/info1/stormover.pdf|title=STORM OVER TAIERZHUANG 1938 PLAYER's AID SHEET|website=grognard.com|access-date=24 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=China Condensed: 5,000 Years of History & Culture|author=Ong Siew Chey|year=2011|publisher=Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd|isbn=978-9814312998|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LdKIAAAAQBAJ&q=japanese+tanks+suicide+bombers&pg=PA79|page=79|edition=reprint|access-date=April 24, 2014}}</ref> in one incident obliterating four Japanese tanks with grenade bundles.<ref>{{cite book|title=International Press Correspondence, Volume 18|year=1938|publisher=Richard Neumann|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nRlWAAAAYAAJ&q=Thus,+for+instance,+a+group+of+Chinese+soldiers,+in+spite+of+heavy+artillery+fire,+attacked+a+column+of+Japanese+tanks+with+hand-grenades+and+destroyed+four+tanks,+sacrificing+their+own+lives.+These+courageous+soldiers+thereby+opened+the+way+for+the+Chinese+troops.+According+to+reports+from+Shanghai,+the+losses+of+the+Japanese+army+operating+on+the+eastern+front+amounted+in+February+to+5,400+killed+and+12,700+wounded.+400+oificers+were+killed+or+wounded.+In+March+35+Japanese|page=447|access-date=April 24, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The people's war|first=Israel|last=Epstein|year=1939|publisher=V. Gollancz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TevqAAAAIAAJ&q=The+men+in+the+trenches+waited+till+the+tanks+came+close,+then+jumped+out+and+threw+bundles+of+hand-+grenades+under+their+wheels+and+into+their+ports.+Four+tanks+were+destroyed,+neatly+pierced+by+anti-tank+shells,+and+nine+others+were|page=172|access-date=April 24, 2014}}</ref>

During the 1946–1950 ], coolies fighting the Communists formed "Dare to Die Corps" to fight for their organizations, with their lives.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/revolutiontradit00lieb|url-access=registration|quote=dare to die china.|title=Revolution and tradition in Tientsin, 1949–1952|author=Kenneth Lieberthal|year=1980|publisher=Stanford University Press|page=|isbn=978-0-8047-1044-2|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref> During the ], protesting students also formed "Dare to Die Corps", to risk their lives defending the protest leaders.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ng0Rr7FsoqQC&q=dare+to+die+china&pg=PA237|title=Red China Blues: My Long March from Mao to Now|author=Jan Wong|year=1997|publisher=Random House, Inc.|page=237|isbn=978-0-385-25639-1|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref>

===Japanese ''kamikaze''===
{{Main|Japanese Special Attack Units|Kamikaze|Kaiten|Banzai charge|Fukuryu|Ohka|Lunge mine|Shinyo (suicide motorboat)}}
]'s suicide attack on the {{USS|Missouri|BB-63}}, April 11, 1945.]]

'']'', a ritual act of self-sacrifice carried out by Japanese pilots of explosive-laden ] against Allied warships, occurred on a large scale at the end of ]. About 3000 attacks were made and about 50 ships were sunk.<ref name=Dodd-kamikaze>{{cite book|last1=Dodd|first1=Henry|title=A short history of suicide bombing|date=23 Aug 2013|publisher=Action on Armed Violence|url=https://aoav.org.uk/2013/a-short-history-of-suicide-bombings/|access-date=13 October 2015}}</ref>

].]]
Later in the war, as Japan became more desperate, this act became formalized and ritualized, as planes were outfitted with explosives specific to the task of a suicide mission.<ref name=Jackson-308>{{cite book|last1=Jackson|first1=Steve|title=Lucky Lady: The World War II Heroics of the USS Santa Fe and Franklin|date=2003|publisher=Da Capo Press.|isbn=978-0786713103|page=308|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=65tzvzXJxC8C&q=ritualized+kamikaze&pg=PA308|access-date=6 October 2015}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Kamikaze strikes were a weapon of ] used by the ] against ] and ] ]s, although the ] of the Royal Navy carriers diminished Kamikaze effectiveness. Along with fitting existing aircraft with bombs, the Japanese also developed the ], a purpose-built suicide aircraft, air-launched from a carrying bomber and propelled to the target at high speed using rocket engines. The Japanese Navy also used piloted ]es called '']'' ("Heaven shaker") on suicide missions. Although sometimes called ]s, these were modified versions of the unmanned torpedoes of the time and are distinct from the torpedo-firing midget submarines used earlier in the war, which were designed to ] ] defenses and return to a ] after firing their torpedoes. Although extremely hazardous, these midget submarine attacks were not technically suicide missions, as the earlier midget submarines had escape hatches. Kaitens, however, provided no means of escape.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~un3k-mn/konadaa-girei.htm|title=Escape system|access-date=18 September 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~un3k-mn/konadaa-huchi.htm|title=Hatches|access-date=18 September 2010}}</ref>

===Germans===
During the ] the Luftwaffe flew "Self-sacrifice missions" (''Selbstopfereinsätze'') against Soviet bridges over the ]. These 'total missions' were flown by pilots of the ]. From 17 to 20 April 1945, using any available aircraft, the ''Luftwaffe'' claimed the squadron had destroyed 17 bridges. However, military historian ] believes this claim was exaggerated and only the railway bridge at ] was definitely destroyed. He comments that "thirty-five pilots and aircraft was a high price
to pay for such a limited and temporary success". The missions were called off when the Soviet ground forces reached the vicinity of the squadron's airbase at ].<ref name="BeevorAntony">]. ''Berlin: The Downfall 1945'', Penguin Books, 2002, p. 238; {{ISBN|0-670-88695-5}}; accessed April 18, 2015.</ref>

] intended to assassinate ] by suicide bomb in 1943, but was unable to complete the attack.<ref>], ''Killing Hitler''. Jonathan Cape, pp. 191–193 (2006); {{ISBN|0-224-07121-1}}.</ref>

===Korean War===
{{Main|Korean War}}
North Korean tanks were attacked by South Koreans with suicide tactics during the Korean War.<ref>{{cite book|title=International Journal of Korean Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=egsxAQAAIAAJ&q=Upon+knowing+that+2.36-inch+bazookas+were+not+effective+against+the+Soviet-made+T-34s,+they+organized+%22a+suicidal+group,%22+approached+the+tanks,+and+threw+a+bundle+of+hand+grenades+with+Molotov+cocktails+into+the+turrets+of+the+North+Korean+tanks.+Moreover,+after+fighting|year=2001|publisher=Korea Society and the International Council on Korean Studies|page=40}}</ref><ref name="Malkasian2014">{{cite book|author=Carter Malkasian|title=The Korean War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BHB5BgAAQBAJ&pg=PT22|date=May 29, 2014|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=978-1-4728-0994-0|pages=22–}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

American tanks at Seoul were attacked by North Korean suicide squads,<ref name="Han2011">{{cite book|author=T.I. Han|title=Lonesome Hero: Memoir of a Korea War POW|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GbP0RK5ZKJ4C&pg=PA69|date=1 May 2011|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-4634-1176-3|pages=69–}}</ref> who used satchel charges.<ref name="Smith">{{cite book|author=Charles R. Smith|title=U.S. Marines in the Korean War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xov0PtHvy-QC&pg=PA183|publisher=Government Printing Office|isbn=978-0-16-087251-8|pages=183–|year=2007}}</ref> North Korean soldier Li Su-Bok is considered a hero for destroying an American tank with a suicide bomb.<ref name="Ryang2009">{{cite book|author=Sonia Ryang|title=North Korea: Toward a Better Understanding|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w1GzO3CV1aAC&pg=PA78|date=January 16, 2009|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-3207-4|pages=78–}}</ref>

===Suez Crisis===
{{Main|Suez Crisis}}
According to Egyptian media, an Arab Christian military officer from Syria, ], sunk a French ship with a suicide attack during the ] in 1956.<ref name=Moubayed>{{cite news|author=Sami Moubayed|title=Rising above odds to resurrect leaders|url=http://gulfnews.com/about-gulf-news/al-nisr-portfolio/weekend-review/articles/rising-above-odds-to-resurrect-leaders-1.40430|newspaper=Weekend Review|date=May 2, 2008|author2=Mustapha Al Sayyed}}</ref> However, none of the French ships named by the sources were harmed during the crisis.<ref group="lower-alpha">It is unclear which actual ship he is supposed to have sunk. One source calls the ship at issue the "] ''Jean D'Arc''" (source: and ) and another the "French warship, ''Jeanne D'Arc''". (source: , Mideastviews.com; accessed 15 June 2015). There was a ] in service at that time, but it was decommissioned in 1964 rather than sunk. Some sources name the ], (source: {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/changingpatterns010404mbp/changingpatterns010404mbp_djvu.txt|title=The Changing Patterns of the Middle East|author=Pierre Rondout|date=1961|publisher=Praeger|page=161|edition=Revised}}, which refers to the ''Jean Bart'' as a "cruiser")</ref>

===War of Attrition===
{{Main|War of Attrition}}
On 21 March 1968, in response to persistent ] raids against Israeli civilian targets, Israel ] the town of ], Jordan, the site of a major PLO camp. The goal of the invasion was to destroy Karameh camp and capture ] in reprisal for the attacks by the PLO against Israeli civilians, which culminated in an Israeli school bus hitting a mine in the ].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Senker|first=Cath|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hI844N9leNUC&pg=PA45|title=The Arab-Israeli Conflict|date=2004|publisher=Black Rabbit Books|isbn=978-1-58340-441-6|language=en}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> This engagement marked the first known deployment of suicide bombers by Palestinian forces.<ref>Saada, Tass & Merrill, Dean ''Once an Arafat Man: The True Story of How a PLO Sniper Found a New Life'' Illinois 2008 pp. 4–6 {{ISBN|1-4143-2361-1}}</ref>

===United States===
On 27 December 2018, the ''Green Bay Press-Gazette'' interviewed veteran {{clarify|date=October 2023}} Mark Bentley, who had trained for the ] program to manually place and detonate a modified version of the ] nuclear bomb. The report stated that he and other soldiers training for the program knew this was a suicide mission because either it would be unrealistic to outrun the timer on the bomb, or that soldiers would be obligated to secure the site before the timer went off. However, in theory the timer could be set long enough to give the team a chance to escape. Bently claimed "We all knew it was a one-way mission, a suicide mission." "You set your timer, and it would click when it went off, or it went ding or I forget what, but you knew you were toast. Ding! Your toast is ready, and it's you." He also commented, "The Army is not going to set a bomb like that and run away and leave it, because they don't know if someone else would get ahold of it. They have to leave troops there to make sure it's not stolen or compromised, and that would just be collateral damage. You didn't go out with the thought that it was anything other than a one-way mission. If you're Bruce Willis, you get away, but I ain't Bruce Willis."<ref name=Srubas>{{cite news|author=Paul Srubas, Green Bay (Wis.) Press-Gazette via the AP|title=His job was to place atomic bombs. Place them, not drop them. Set the timer. Run like hell.|url=https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/2019/01/07/depere-atomic-bombs-hiroshima-nagasaki-fort-belvoir-davycrockett-mark-bentley-army-service-cold-war/2418122002/|newspaper=]|date=January 7, 2019}}</ref>

However, employment manuals for atomic demolition munitions specifically describe the firing party and their guard retreating from the emplacement site, at which point the device is protected through a combination of passive security measures including concealment, camouflage and the use of decoys, as well as active security measures including booby-traps, obstacles such as ] and landmines, and long ranged artillery fire.<ref>{{cite report |date=August 1971 |title=Employment of Atomic Demolition Munitions (ADM) |publisher=Headquarters, Department of the Army |docket=FM 5-26|ref=CITEREFEmployment_of_Atomic_Demolition_Munitions_(ADM) |url=https://archive.org/details/fm-5-26-1971 |pages=3-15 to 3-16}}</ref> Further, the SADM included a Field Wire Remote Control System (FWRCS), a device that enabled the sending of safe/arm and firing signals to the weapon via a wire for safe remote detonation of the weapon.<ref>{{cite report |author=Bartlett, J G |date=11 February 1964 |title=Electromagnetic Radiation Susceptibility of the B54-0 (SADM) and the Field Wire Remote Control System (U) |url=https://www.osti.gov/opennet/detail?osti-id=16341307 |publisher=Sandia National Lab |access-date=4 June 2021 |archive-date=25 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525064046/https://www.osti.gov/opennet/detail?osti-id=16341307 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Post-1980 attacks==

{| class="wikitable sortable floatright" style="text-align:right; width:340px;"
|+Suicide attacks by organization,<br/> 1982 to mid-2015<ref name=CPOST-ORG>(Click "Search Database", then under "filter by", click "group"){{cite web|title=Year: 1982–2015. Group|url=http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|website=Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism Suicide Attack Database|access-date=2015-11-20|archive-date=2016-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124204240/http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|-
! Group
! attacks
! people<br/>killed
|-
| Others/unidentified attackers
|2547
|22877
|-
! ]<ref>includes earlier versions of the group counted separately by the CPOST Suicide Attack Database: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and Islamic State of Iraq</ref>
| 424
| 4949
|-
! ] (Central)
| 20
| 3391
|-
! ] (Afghanistan)
| 665
| 2925
|-
! ]
| 121
| 1541
|-
! ]
| 82
| 961
|-
! ]
| 64
| 726
|-
! ]
| 78
| 511
|-
! ]
| 23
| 354
|-
! ]
| 28
| 319
|-
! ]
| 50
| 225
|-
! ]
| 40
| 107
|-
! ]
| 7
| 92
|-
! ]
| 10
| 84
|-
! ]
| 10
| 32
|-
! ]
| 7
| 28
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable floatright" style="text-align:right; width:340px;"
|+Suicide attacks by location,<br/> 1982 to mid-2015<ref name=CPOST-LOC>(Click "Search Database", then under "filter by", click "location"){{cite web|title=Year: 1982–2015. Group|url=http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|website=Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism Suicide Attack Database|access-date=2015-11-20|archive-date=2016-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124204240/http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|-
! Country
! attacks
! people<br/> killed
|-
! Iraq
| 1938
| 20084
|-
! Pakistan
| 490
| 6287
|-
! Afghanistan
| 1059
| 4748
|-
! United States
| 4
| 2997
|-
! Syria
| 172
| 2058
|-
! Sri Lanka
| 115
| 1584
|-
! Nigeria
| 103
| 1347
|-
! Yemen
| 87
| 1128
|-
! Lebanon
| 66
| 1007
|-
! Somalia
| 91
| 829
|-
! Russia
|86
|782
|-
! Israel
| 113
| 721
|-
! Algeria
|24
|281
|-
! Indonesia
|10
|252
|-
! Egypt
|21
|246
|-
! Kenya
|2
|213
|-
! Iran
|8
|160
|-
! Libya
|29
|155
|-
! India
|15
|123
|-
! Turkey
|29
|115
|-
! United Kingdom
|5
|78
|-
! Palestinian Territory
| 59
| 67
|-
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===History===

Modern suicide bombing has been defined as "involving explosives deliberately carried to the target either on the person or in a civilian vehicle and delivered by surprise".<ref name=kraft-2011>{{cite book|last1=Kraft|first1=Michael|last2=Marks|first2=Edward|title=U.S. Government Counterterrorism: A Guide to Who Does What|date=2011|publisher=CRC Press|chapter=1. Modern Terrorism and the Federal Government Response}}</ref> (Noah Feldman and many others exclude terror attacks such as the ] where "the perpetrator's ensured death" was not "a precondition for the success of his mission".<ref name=ICT-STDC/>) The intended targets are often civilian, not just military or political.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}
], Tanzania, in the aftermath of August 7, 1998, ] ]]]

The ]'s ] and ]'s ] and ] in October 1983 brought suicide bombings international attention and began the modern suicide bombing era.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1146/annurev-polisci-062813-051049|doi-access=free|title=The Rise and Spread of Suicide Bombing|year=2015|last1=Horowitz|first1=Michael C.|journal=Annual Review of Political Science|volume=18|pages=69–84}}</ref> Other parties to the civil war were quick to adopt the tactic, and by 1999 factions such as Hezbollah, the ], the ], and the ] had carried out a total of roughly 50 suicide bombings.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} The Syrian Social Nationalist Party sent the ] in 1985.<ref name="FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBERS">{{cite web |url=http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB408.pdf |title=FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBERS
|author=Debra D. Zedalis| publisher=Strategic Studies Institute |date=June 2004}}</ref><ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2eTc5pm_Y3MC |title=Female Suicide Bombers |author=Debra D. Zedalis |date= August 2004|publisher=The Minerva Group |isbn=9781410215932 |access-date=2016-01-17}}</ref><ref name="martinfrost.ws">{{cite web |url=http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/jan2008/female_bombers.html |title=Female Suicide Bombers |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726124637/http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/jan2008/female_bombers.html |archive-date=July 26, 2014 | author=Debra D. Zedalis| publisher=University Press of the Pacific| date=2004| quote=Iraq militants turn to women for suicide attacks}}</ref><ref name=Rajan>{{cite book|last1=Rajan|first1=V. G. Julie|title=Women Suicide Bombers: Narratives of Violence|date=2011|publisher=Routledge.|page=225|isbn=9781136760211|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d8CsAgAAQBAJ&q=Sana%27a+Mehaidli+first+female+suicide+bomber&pg=PA225|access-date=13 October 2015|quote=Rosemary Skaine writes about Sana'a Mehaidli the first suicide bomber and first women {{sic?}} bomber for the Syrian Socialist Network Party ...}}</ref>

During the ], the ] (LTTE) adopted suicide bombing as a tactic, using bomb belts and female bombers. The LTTE carried out their first suicide attack in July 1987,{{efn|group=lower-alpha|'']'' lists 168 ] carried out by the LTTE between 187 and 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/225|title=Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam – Mapping Militant Organizations|first=Daniel|last=Cassman}}</ref>}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060819-095333-3607r.htm|title=Tending to Sri Lanka|work=The Washington Times|access-date=June 17, 2008}}</ref> and their ] unit committed 83 suicide attacks from 1987 to 2009, killing 981 people<ref name=CPOST-LTTE>{{cite web|title=Year: 1982–2015: Group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam|url=http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|website=Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism Suicide Attack Database|access-date=22 Dec 2016|archive-date=24 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124204240/http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|url-status=dead}}</ref> ] former Indian Prime Minister ]<ref>{{cite news|title=Tamil Tiger 'regret' over Gandhi |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5122032.stm |work=BBC News |date=27 June 2006 |access-date=10 May 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=We killed Rajiv, confesses LTTE |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/We-killed-Rajiv-confesses-LTTE/articleshow/1686574.cms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110908152114/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-06-28/india/27793042_1_ltte-suicide-bomber-rajiv-gandhi-velupillai-prabhakaran |url-status=live |archive-date=8 September 2011 |newspaper=] |date=28 June 2006 |access-date=10 May 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=On This Day 21 May – 1991: Bomb kills India's former leader Rajiv Gandhi |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/21/newsid_2504000/2504739.stm |publisher=BBC |access-date=5 November 2007 | date=21 May 1991}}</ref> and the president of Sri Lanka, ].<ref>{{cite news|first=Mark |last=Baker |title=Hopes high for end to Sri Lanka war |url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/09/15/1032054710030.html |newspaper=] |date=16 September 2002 |access-date=10 May 2007 |location=Melbourne}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Sri Lanka assassination plot |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/140084.stm |work=BBC News |date=27 July 1998 |access-date=10 May 2007}}</ref><ref name=Hindu050905>{{cite news|first=V. S. |last=Sambandan |title=Inquiries into Premadasa, Dissanayake killings closed |url=http://www.hindu.com/2005/09/05/stories/2005090507041200.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070301153730/http://www.hindu.com/2005/09/05/stories/2005090507041200.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 March 2007 |newspaper=] |date=5 September 2005 |access-date=10 May 2007 |location=Chennai, India}}</ref><ref name=Reuters101106>{{cite news|title=CHRONOLOGY-Assassinations of political figures in Sri Lanka |url=http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=COL159286&WTmodLoc=World-R5-Alertnet-5 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070424061503/http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=COL159286&WTmodLoc=World-R5-Alertnet-5 |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 April 2007 |work=] |date=10 November 2006 |access-date=10 May 2007}}</ref>

Another non-religious group involved in suicide attacks was the ] which began their insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984. According to the ]'s ], as of 2015, ten suicide attacks by the PKK from 1996 to 2012 killed 32 people and injured 116.<ref name=CPOST-PKK>{{cite web|title=Year: 1982–2015. Group: Kurdistan Workers Party|url=http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|website=Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism Suicide Attack Database|access-date=2015-11-20|archive-date=2016-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124204240/http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|url-status=dead}}</ref>

] carried out its first suicide attack in the mid-1990s<ref name=rwkckb07>{{cite journal|last=Kurz|first=Robert W.|author2=Charles K. Bartles|s2cid=96476266|title=Chechen suicide bombers|journal=Journal of Slavic Military Studies|year=2007|volume=20|issue=4|pages=529–547|doi=10.1080/13518040701703070|url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a477845.pdf|access-date=August 30, 2012|archive-date=October 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011185147/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a477845.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
The attacks first appeared in Israel and the ] in 1989.<ref name="News1">{{cite web|url=http://www.news1.co.il/Archive/001-D-206364-00.html?tag=09-17-36|script-title=he:פיגוע אוטובוס 405 |publisher=News1|language=he|access-date=March 22, 2015}}</ref>

====9/11 and after====
In early 2000, one analyst (]) saw a pause in bombing campaigns and argued that "most of the groups that were involved in suicide terrorism either stopped using it or eventually reduced it significantly."<ref name=ICT-STDC/>

The number of attacks using suicide tactics grew from an average of fewer than five per year during the 1980s to 81 suicide attacks in 2001 and 460 in 2005.{{sfn|Atran|2006|p=129}} By 2005, the tactic had spread to dozens of countries.<ref name=Maggio-2009-205>{{cite book|last1=Maggio|first1=Edward J|title=Private Security In The 21st Century: Concepts And Applications|date=2009|publisher=Jones & Bartlett Publishers.|isbn=978-0-7637-5190-6|page=205|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CZNdwscVq1EC&q=By+2005,+the+suicide+bombing+has+spread+to+dozens+of+countries.&pg=PA205|access-date=13 October 2015}}</ref>

]
] became a popular tactic among ]ist organizations such as ], ], the ], and occasionally by the ].<ref>Pedahzur, pp. 66–69</ref> The first suicide bombing in Israel was by Hamas in 1994.<ref name=rwkckb07/> Attacks peaked from 2001 to 2003 with over 40 bombings and over 200 killed in 2002.<ref name=CPOST-Israel>{{cite web|title=RESULTS ARE FILTERED BY: Year: 1982–2015. Country: Israel|url=http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|website=Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism Suicide Attack Database|access-date=2015-11-20|archive-date=2016-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124204240/http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=j1>{{cite journal|author=Schweitzer, Y. |s2cid=144812564 |title=Palestinian ''Istishhadia'': A Developing Instrument' |doi=10.1080/10576100701435761 |url=http://www.inss.org.il/upload/%28FILE%291300198331.pdf |year=2007 |journal=Studies in Conflict & Terrorism |volume=30 |issue=8 |pages=667–689 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121045437/http://www.inss.org.il/upload/%28FILE%291300198331.pdf |archive-date=November 21, 2015 }}</ref> Bombers affiliated with these groups often use so-called "]", ]s (often including ]) designed to be strapped to the body under clothing. In order to maximize the loss of life, the bombers seek out enclosed spaces, such as cafés or city ]es crowded with people at ].<ref name=bbc-APSB>. BBC News (2007-01-29); retrieved 2012-08-19.</ref> Less common are military targets (for example, soldiers waiting for transport at roadside). These bombings have tended to have more popular support than in other Muslim countries, and more ] and announcements that promise ] reward for suicide bombers can be found on Palestinian television (according to Palestinian Media Watch).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pmw.org.il/tv%20part1.html |title=PA Indoctrination of Children to Seek Shahada |access-date=2008-11-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081112223611/http://www.pmw.org.il/tv%20part1.html |archive-date=November 12, 2008 }}</ref><ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050521025750/http://www.pmw.org.il/index.html |date=May 21, 2005 }}, Pmw.org.il; retrieved 2012-08-19.</ref> Israeli sources observed that Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah operate "Paradise Camps", training children as young as 11 to become suicide bombers.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050620082356/http://www.adl.org/PresRele/IslME_62/4153_62.asp |date=2005-06-20 }}, adl.org; retrieved 2012-08-19.</ref><ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050308113828/http://www.eufunding.org/Textbooks/EuropesPalestinianChildren.html |date=March 8, 2005 }}. Eufunding.org; retrieved 2012-08-19.</ref> In 2004, due to increased effectiveness in Israel's security measures and stricter checkpoint protocols, terrorist organizations began employing women and children more frequently as operatives, assuming that they would raise fewer suspicions and undergo less rigorous inspections.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Femme Fatale, Jihad Style |language=en |work=Haaretz |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2010-04-05/ty-article/femme-fatale-jihad-style/0000017f-e3e5-d804-ad7f-f3ff686a0000 |access-date=2023-10-14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Myre |first=Greg |date=2004-03-25 |title=Israeli Soldiers Thwart a Boy's Suicide Bombing Attempt |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/25/world/israeli-soldiers-thwart-a-boy-s-suicide-bombing-attempt.html |access-date=2023-10-14 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

The ], orchestrated by al-Qaeda, has been called "the worst attack on American soil since the Japanese ] which thrust the United States into ]".<ref name=Engel-2013>{{cite web|last1=Lidgett|first1=Adam|title=9/11 Attacks In Photos 2015: 15 Iconic Images From September 11, 2001 And Its Aftermath 14 Years Later|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/911-attacks-photos-2015-15-iconic-images-september-11-2001-its-aftermath-14-years-2091600|website=International Business Times|access-date=12 January 2016|date=Sep 11, 2015}}</ref> They involved the hijacking of four large passenger ]. Unlike earlier airline hijackings, the primary focus was the planes, not the passengers because their long transcontinental flight plans meant they carried more fuel, allowing a bigger explosion on impact.<ref name="lewis-2013"/> ] ] were deliberately flown into the Twin Towers of the ] in ], destroying both 110-story skyscrapers within less than two hours. ] was flown into ] in ], causing severe damage to the west side of the building. These attacks resulted in the deaths of 221 people (including the 15 hijackers) on board the three planes as well as 2,731 more in and around the targeted buildings.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/americas/2001/day_of_terror|title=America's day of terror|work=BBC News|access-date=March 22, 2015}}</ref> ] crashed into a field near ], after a revolt by the plane's passengers, killing all 44 people (including the four hijackers) on board. In total, the attacks killed ]. The U.S. stock market closed for four trading days after the attacks (the first time it had an unscheduled closing since the Great Depression).<ref name=Amadeo>{{cite web|last1=Amadeo|first1=Kimberly|title=How the 9/11 Attacks Still Affect the Economy Today|url=http://useconomy.about.com/od/Financial-Crisis/f/911-Attacks-Economic-Impact.htm|website=about news|access-date=14 October 2015|archive-date=6 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906133837/http://useconomy.about.com/od/Financial-Crisis/f/911-Attacks-Economic-Impact.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Nine days after the attack, ] ] called for a "War on Terror" and shortly thereafter launched the ] to find and capture ], the head of the al-Qaeda organization that mounted the 9/11 attacks.<ref name=Amadeo/>

]
After the U.S.-led ], ] carried out waves of suicide bombings. More attacks have been carried out in Iraq (1,938 as of mid-2015) than in any other country.<ref name="CPOST-LOC-total"/>

In addition to ] targets, they attacked many civilian targets such as ] ]s, international offices of the ], and the ]. Iraqi men waiting to apply for jobs with the new army and ] force were targets. In the lead up to the ], on January 30, 2005, suicide attacks upon civilian and police personnel involved with the ]s increased. There were also reports of the insurgents co-opting disabled people as involuntary suicide bombers.<ref>, Smh.com.au, February 2, 2005; retrieved August 19, 2012.</ref>

Other major locations of suicide attack are Afghanistan (1,059 attacks as of mid-2015)<ref name=CPOST-LOC-total/> and Pakistan (490 attacks).<ref name=CPOST-LOC-total/> In the first eight months of 2008, Pakistan overtook Iraq and Afghanistan in suicide bombings, with 28 bombings killing 471 people.<ref>Shahan Mufti. {{cite journal |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1010/p04s03-wosc.html |title=Suicide attacks a growing threat in Pakistan |journal=] |access-date=2008-10-09 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221164358/http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1010/p04s03-wosc.html |archive-date=February 21, 2009 }}. csmonitor.com.</ref>
Suicide bombings have become a tactic in ], first being used in the conflict in 2000 in Alkhan Kala,<ref>Pedahzur, p. 112</ref>
and spreading to Russia, notably with the ] in 2002 to the ] in 2004.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1054699.html|title=Factbox: Major Terrorist Incidents Tied To Russian-Chechen War|newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |date=8 April 2008 |publisher=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Rferl.org|access-date=March 22, 2015}}</ref>

In Europe four Islamist suicide bombers exploded home-made peroxide explosives on three London underground trains and a bus on ], during the morning rush hour. These "7/7" bombings killed 52 civilians and injured 700.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2005/london_explosions/default.stm|title=Special Reports &#124; London explosions|work=BBC News|access-date=March 22, 2015}}</ref>

Since 2006, ] has carried out major suicide attacks in ],<ref name="time">{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1945398,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091207005106/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1945398,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 7, 2009|magazine=Time|title=Suicide Bombing Marks a Grim New Turn for Somalia|access-date=March 22, 2015}}</ref> the worst year so far being 2016 with 28 attacks, or more than two per month

On 22 May 2017, the ] occurred which resulted in 23 deaths and 1,017 injuries. The attack was carried out as people were leaving the ] concert.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Attack – Manchester Arena Inquiry |url=https://manchesterarenainquiry.org.uk/report-volume-one/part-1-missed-opportunities/the-attack/ |website=manchesterarenainquiry.org.uk |access-date=27 March 2023}}</ref>

On 25 December 2020, a ] in Nashville, Tennessee, US.

===Strategy and advantages===

According to author Jeffrey William Lewis, to succeed, campaigns of suicide bombing need: willing individuals, organizations to train and use them, and a society willing to accept such acts in the name of a greater good.<ref name="lewis-2013" /> The organizations work to guarantee individual suicide bombers that they "will be remembered as martyrs dying for their communities". By imbuing suicide bombing/attacks with "reverence and heroism", it becomes more attractive to recruits.<ref name="lewis-2013" /> According to Yoram Schweitzer, modern suicide terrorism is "aimed at causing devastating physical damage, through which it inflicts profound fear and anxiety". Its goal is not to produce a negative psychological effect only on the victims of the actual attack, but on the entire target population.<ref name="ICT-STDC" /> Attackers themselves have often framed suicide attacks as acts of courageous self-sacrifice made necessary by the superior military or security strength of the enemy. The technique has also been called "the atomic weapon of the weak".<ref name="Schweitzer-2010">{{cite journal|last1=Schweitzer|first1=Yoram|title= The Rise and Fall of Suicide Bombings in the Second Intifada|journal=Strategic Assessment |date=October 2010|volume=13|issue=3|url=http://www.inss.org.il/uploadimages/Import/%28FILE%291289896644.pdf|access-date=21 October 2015}}</ref> According to Sheikh ], the former leader of Hamas, "Once we have warplanes and missiles, then we can think of changing our means of legitimate self-defense. But right now, we can only tackle the fire with our bare hands and sacrifice ourselves."<ref>Quoted in ] (2005), ''Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror'' (New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 3–4; {{ISBN|0-231-13320-0}}.</ref> While this arguably explains the motivation of many early suicide bombings in the 1980s and 90s, it cannot explain many later attacks, such as those on funeral processions of the minority Shia in Pakistan.

A major reason for the popularity of suicide attacks despite the sacrifice involved for its perpetrators is its tactical advantages over other types of terrorism, such as the ability to conceal weapons, make last-minute adjustments, increased ability to infiltrate heavily guarded targets, lack of need for remote or delayed detonation, escape plans or rescue teams. Robert Pape observes: "Suicide attacks are an especially convincing way to signal the likelihood of more pain to come, because if you are willing to kill yourself you are also willing to endure brutal retaliation. "... The element of suicide itself helps increase the credibility of future attacks because it suggests that attackers cannot be deterred."<ref>Pape, ''Dying to Win,'' (2005), pp. 28–29</ref> Other scholars have criticized Pape's research design, arguing that it cannot draw any conclusions on the efficacy of suicide terrorism.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Ashworth|first1=Scott|last2=Clinton|first2=Joshua D.|last3=Meirowitz|first3=Adam|last4=Ramsay|first4=Kristopher W.|date=2008|title=Design, Inference, and the Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27644515|journal=] |volume=102|issue=2|pages=269–273|doi=10.1017/S0003055408080167|jstor=27644515|s2cid=17827986|issn=0003-0554}}</ref>

Bruce Hoffman describes the characteristics of suicide bombing, as "universal": "Suicide bombings are inexpensive and effective. They are less complicated and compromising than other kinds of terrorist operations. They guarantee media coverage. The suicide terrorist is the ultimate smart bomb. Perhaps most important, coldly efficient bombings tear at the fabric of trust that holds societies together."<ref name=HOFFMAN-6-2003/>


== Tactics == == Tactics ==
Various groups adapt their strategies to suit specific targets. For example, in the 1980s, ] favored the use of explosive-laden cars, while the ] in ] employed tactics involving explosive-laden boats. Palestinian organizations in the 1990s refined an approach involving suicide bombers with ]s, influencing groups like the ] and the ]. In contemporary Iraq, local factions have utilized explosive-laden vehicles to target heavily guarded military facilities.<ref name=":2" />
Suicide attacks usually (but not always) target poorly-guarded, non-military facilities and ]. It can be either a military tactic, a political one, or a mixture of the two. It may qualify as ] when the intention is to kill, maim or terrorise a predominantly civilian target population, or fall within the definition of an act of war when it is committed against a military target under war conditions.


==Attacker profiles and motivations==
] of a Palestinian suicide bomber, captured by the Israeli police. Anti-terrorism ] claims such suicide bomber ] is designed by a person they call ].]]
{{Original research section|date=July 2021}}
Studies of who becomes a suicide attacker and what motivates them have often come to different conclusions. According to Riaz Hassan, "apart from one demographic attribute—that the majority of suicide bombers tend to be young males—the evidence has failed to find a stable set of demographic, psychological, socioeconomic and religious variables that can be causally linked to suicide bombers' personality or socioeconomic origins."<ref name=what/> Anthropologist ] wrote, " are not sufficiently different from everyone else. Insights into homegrown jihadi attacks will have to come from understanding group dynamics, not individual psychology. Small-group dynamics can trump individual personality to produce horrific behavior in otherwise ordinary people."{{sfn|Atran|2006|p=128}} Atran's research has found that the attacks are not organized from the top down, but occurs from the bottom up. That is, it is usually a matter of following one's friends, and ending up in environments that foster ]. Atran is also critical of the claim that terrorists simply crave destruction; they are often motivated by beliefs they hold sacred, as well as their own moral reasoning.{{sfn|Atran|2006|p=136}}


A study of the remains of 110 suicide bombers in Afghanistan for the first part of 2007 by Afghan pathologist Dr. Yusef Yadgari found 80% were suffering from physical ailments such as missing limbs (before the blasts), cancer, or leprosy. Also, in contrast to earlier findings of suicide bombers, the Afghan bombers were "not celebrated like their counterparts in other Arab nations. Afghan bombers are not featured on posters or in videos as martyrs."<ref>Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson. , npr.org; retrieved March 22, 2015.</ref>
As a political tactic, suicide attacks send a message of impassioned opposition to enemy forces (that the attacker is willing to die for his or her cause) and a message of desperate recklessness to third parties (that the attacker feels the justice of the cause so strongly that he would rather die than submit and that he is giving little thought to the danger). However, it may backfire, as suicide attacks ignite rage and hatred and undermine the belief in the humanity of those who perpetrate them.


], director of the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism, found the majority of suicide bombers came from the educated middle classes. (], who perpetrated the ] in Afghanistan in 2010, was a medical doctor.<ref>Joby Warrick, ''The Triple Agent'', New York: Doubleday, 2011. p. 37<!--ISBN, year of publication needed--></ref>)
When used against civilian targets, suicide attacks usually cause fear in the target population greater than that caused by other forms of terrorism, as the fact that the attacker intends to die makes deterrents ineffective.
A 2004 paper by ] Professor of Public Policy ] "cast doubt on the widely held belief that terrorism stems from poverty, finding instead that terrorist violence (not just suicide terrorism) is "related to a nation's level of political freedom", with countries "in some intermediate range of political freedom" more prone to terrorism than countries with "high levels" of political freedom or countries with "highly authoritarian regimes". "When governments are weak, political instability is elevated, so conditions are favorable for the appearance of terrorism".<ref name="povterr.pdf">Alberto Abadie. {{cite web |date=October 2004 |title=Poverty, Political Freedom, and the Roots of Terrorism |url=http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/aabadie/povterr.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123104136/http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/aabadie/povterr.pdf |archive-date=November 23, 2015 |access-date=October 22, 2015}}</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919050732/http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/11.04/05-terror.html|date=2015-09-19}}. News.harvard.edu; November 4, 2004; accessed August 19, 2012.</ref> A 2020 study found that while well-educated and economically well-off individuals are more likely to be behind suicide terrorism, it is not because these individuals self-select into suicide terrorism, but rather because terrorist groups are more likely to select high-quality individuals to commit suicide terrorist attacks.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Morris |first=Andrea Michelle |year=2020 |title=Who Wants to Be a Suicide Bomber? Evidence from Islamic State Recruits |journal=International Studies Quarterly |language=en |volume=64 |issue=2 |pages=306–315 |doi=10.1093/isq/sqaa012}}</ref>
However, use against civilian targets has differing effects on their goals (see reaction below). Some ] suggest that this tactic goes beyond symbolism and is actually a response to commodified, controlled, or ] lives, as the suicide attackers apparently consider family prestige and financial compensation from the community as compensation for their own lives. Further supporting the idea that suicide attacks are a product of ], equatable "sacrifice for the group" tactics are used successfully by other societal animals in nature, most obviously by ].


Pape found that among ], 97 percent were unmarried and 84 percent were male (or if excluding the ], 91 percent male),<ref name="Pape-2003"/> while a study conducted by the ] in ] in 2008 found that suicide bombers were almost always single men without children aged 18 to 30 (with a mean age of 22), and were typically students or employed in ].<ref>{{cite news |date=March 15, 2008 |title=U.S. study draws portrait of Iraq bombers |work=] |url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2008-03-15-iraq-study_N.htm |access-date=February 27, 2020}}</ref> In a 2011 doctoral thesis, anthropologist Kyle R. Gibson reviewed three studies documenting 1,208 suicide attacks from 1981 to 2007 and found that countries with higher ] rates correlated with greater production of suicide terrorists.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harmon |first1=Vanessa |last2=Mujkic |first2=Edin |last3=Kaukinen |first3=Catherine |last4=Weir |first4=Henriikka |year=2018 |title=Causes & Explanations of Suicide Terrorism: A Systematic Review |url=https://www.hsaj.org/articles/14749 |journal=Homeland Security Affairs |publisher=] |volume=25}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Gibson |first=Kyle R. |year=2011 |title=The Roles of Operational Sex Ratio and Young-Old Ratio in Producing Suicide Attackers |publisher=] |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260059007}}</ref> In addition to noting that countries where polygyny is widely practiced tend to have higher ] and ], political scientists ] and Bradley Thayer have argued that because ], the higher degrees of marital inequality in ] than most of the world causes them to have larger populations susceptible to suicide terrorism, and that ] for ] serves as a mechanism to mitigate ] conflict within Islamic countries between alpha and non-alpha males by bringing esteem to the latter's families and redirecting their violence towards out-groups.<ref name="Hudson & Thayer 2010">{{cite journal |last1=Hudson |first1=Valerie M. |author-link1=Valerie M. Hudson |last2=Thayer |first2=Bradley |year=2010 |title=Sex and the Shaheed: Insights from the Life Sciences on Islamic Suicide Terrorism |journal=] |publisher=] |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=48–53 |jstor=40784561}}</ref>
The ] of asymmetric warfare views suicide attacks as a result of an imbalance of power, in which groups with little significant power resort to suicide bombing as a response to actions or policies of a group with greater power.
Groups which have significant power have no need to resort to suicide bombing to achieve their aims; consequently, suicide bombing is overwhelmingly used by guerrilla, and other ]. Among many such groups, there are religious overtones to martyrdom: attackers and their supporters may believe that their sacrifice will be rewarded in an ]. Suicide attackers often believe that their actions are in accordance with moral or social standards because they are aimed at fighting forces and conditions that they perceive as unjust.


Along with his research on the ], Scott Atran found that Palestinian jihadist groups (such as ]) provide monthly ]s, ], and massive prestige to the families of suicide terrorists.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Atran |first=Scott |author-link=Scott Atran |year=2003 |title=Genesis of Suicide Terrorism |url=https://jeannicod.ccsd.cnrs.fr/ijn_00509568/file/genesis_of_Suicide_terrorism.pdf |journal=] |publisher=] |volume=299 |issue=5612 |pages=1534–1539 |bibcode=2003Sci...299.1534A |doi=10.1126/science.1078854 |pmid=12624256 |s2cid=12114032}}</ref>{{sfn|Atran|2006|p=127-147}} Citing Atran and other anthropological research showing that 99 percent of Palestinian suicide terrorists are male, that 86 percent are unmarried, and that 81 percent have at least six siblings (larger than the average Palestinian family size), cognitive scientist ] argues in '']'' (2011) that because the families of men in the ] and ] often cannot afford ]s and that many potential brides end up in polygynous marriages, the financial compensation of an act of suicide terrorism can buy enough brides for a man's brothers to have children to make the self-sacrifice pay off in terms of ] and ].<ref>{{cite book |last=Pinker |first=Steven |title=The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined |title-link=The Better Angels of Our Nature |publisher=] |year=2011 |isbn=978-0143122012 |place=New York |pages=353–358 |author-link=Steven Pinker}}</ref>
===Profile of a bomber===
A common reaction to a suicide bomber is to assume that he or she was motivated by despair, and probably came from a ], neglected segment of ]. Both President ] and the ] have made this claim. However, ] ] found in a ] study that this is not a justifiable conclusion. A recently published paper by ] University Professor of Public Policy ] "cast doubt on the widely held belief that terrorism stems from poverty, finding instead that terrorist violence is related to a nation's level of political freedom." More specifically this is due to the transition of countries towards democratic freedoms. "Intermediate levels of political freedom are often experienced during times of political transitions, when governments are weak, political instability is elevated, so conditions are favorable for the appearance of terrorism" .


Reasons vary greatly, and are different in the case of each individual. Fanaticism (nationalist or religious, or both) may result from brain-washing, negative experiences regarding "the enemy", and the lack of a perspective in life. Suicide attackers may want to hurt or kill their targets because they hold them responsible for all bad things that have happened to them or in the world, or simply just because they want to escape misery and poverty.<ref>Artur Lakatos, „War, Martyrdom and Suicide Bombers: Essay on Suicide Terrorism", in Cultura. International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology, Issue 14/2010, pp 171–180</ref> Based on biographies of more than seven hundred foreign fighters uncovered at an Iraqi insurgent camp, researchers believe that the motivation for suicide missions (at least in Iraq) was not "the global jihadi ideology", but "an explosive mix of desperation, pride, anger, sense of powerlessness, local tradition of resistance and religious fervor".<ref name="hassan">{{cite web|last1=Hassan|first1=Riaz|title=What Motivates the Suicide Bombers?|url=http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/what-motivates-suicide-bombers-0|website=YaleGlobe|access-date=13 October 2015|date=3 September 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004215906/http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/what-motivates-suicide-bombers-0|archive-date=4 October 2013}}</ref> A study by German scholar Arata Takeda analyzes analogous behavior represented in literary texts from the antiquity through the 20th century ('']'', '']'', '']'', '']'') and comes to the conclusion "that suicide bombings are not the expressions of specific cultural peculiarities or exclusively religious fanaticisms. Instead, they represent a strategic option of the desperately weak who strategically disguise themselves under the mask of apparent strength, terror, and invincibility."<ref>{{cite journal |author=Takeda, Arata |year=2010 |title=Suicide bombers in Western literature: Demythologizing a mythic discourse |journal=Contemporary Justice Review |volume=13 |issue=4 |page=471 |doi=10.1080/10282580.2010.517985 |s2cid=54018791}}</ref><ref>Takeda, Arata (2010), ''Ästhetik der Selbstzerstörung: Selbstmordattentäter in der abendländischen Literatur'' (p. 296), Munich: Fink; {{ISBN|978-3-7705-5062-3}}.</ref>
In contrast, low levels of political freedom among non-Muslims almost never produced a culture that tolerates suicide bombing. For example, not a single incidence of suicide bombing has been recorded from a Palestinian Christian. Also there have been many non-Muslim totalitarian regimes (with low political freedom) that have no record of suicide bombings. Finally, many Muslim countries with totalitarian governments that are in a stable (not transitional) state encourage suicide bombing.


Criminal justice professor Adam Lankford argues that suicide terrorists are not psychologically normal or stable, and are motivated to suicide and killing to mask their desire to die beneath a "veneer of heroic action", because of the religious consequences of killing themselves outright.<ref name="csm">{{cite news|last1=Martin|first1=Cameron|title=BOOK REVIEWS. The Myth of Martyrdom|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2013/0218/The-Myth-of-Martyrdom|access-date=23 October 2015|agency=csmonitor.com|date=February 18, 2013}}</ref> He has identified more than 130 individual suicide terrorists, including 9/11 ringleader ], with classic suicidal risk factors such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, other mental health problems, drug addictions, serious physical injuries or disabilities, or having suffered the unexpected death of a loved one or from other personal crises.<ref>Lankford, Adam. (2013). ''The Myth of Martyrdom: What Really Drives Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self-Destructive Killers'' (p. 61); {{ISBN|978-0-23-034213-2}}.</ref>
From 2003 to 2004, women were more frequently involved in suicide attacks in the Middle East and elsewhere. In ''Messengers of Death: Female Suicide Bombers'', Clara Beyler writes that women have channeled the frustration stemming from their role in society into ruthless behavior. . This can demonstrate strength and power in societies where women have a submissive role. That women have become more involved in suicide bombings makes it more difficult to profile a suicide bomber.


===Nationalist resistance and religion===
Some suicide bombers are educated, with ] or ] experience, and come from ] homes. Most suicide bombers do not show signs of ]. Indeed, leaders of the groups who perpetrate these attacks search for individuals who can be trusted to carry out the mission; those with mental illnesses are not ideal candidates. They often find solace in the ritualistic communion found in extremist circles, which are often headed by ] individuals looking for new ]s.
] of ] suicide bomber Ashraf Sallah Alasmar in ].]]


To what extent attackers are motivated by religious enthusiasm, by resistance to perceived outsider oppression or some combination of the two is disputed.
It has also been observed that some suicide bombers were coerced or possibly deceived about the nature of the operation. Some ] specialists believe that a number of the ] ] may not have known that they were embarking on a suicide mission. {{fact}} Cases of Middle Eastern suicide bombers being chained or tied to the steering wheel of vehicles carrying bombs or remotely detonating the said vehicles with drivers inside, and also of outfitting developmentally disabled individuals (specifically those with ]) with suicide bomb vests, are hotly ] issues.


According to ], director of the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism, as of 2005, 95 percent of suicide attacks have the same specific strategic goal: to cause an occupying state to withdraw forces from a disputed territory, making nationalism, not religion, their principal motivation.<ref name="pape">Pape, ''Dying to Win'', p. 128</ref>
===No sacrifice or Unbeliever?===


Alternately, another source found that at least in one country (Lebanon from 1983 to 1999) it was Islamists who influenced secular nationalists—their use of suicide attack spreading to the secular groups. Five Lebanese groups "espousing a non-religious nationalist ideology" followed the lead of Islamist groups in attacking by suicide, "impressed by the effectiveness of Hezbollah's attacks in precipitating the withdrawal of the 'foreigners' from Lebanon".<ref name=ICT-STDC/> (In Israel suicide attacks by Islamist Islamic Jihad and Hamas also preceded those of the secular ] and the ]-linked ].)
Consider; a suicide bomber who genuinely belives that he will go to heaven, with his figs(sorry virgins) waiting for him is therefore not brave, since he is making no sacrifice, and will feel nothing when he explodes. Indeed he is a coward, putting his paradise in Heaven ahead of his cause. By contrast, the bomber who doubts is an unbeliever, and also a coward, because he still chooses deat nrather than to cope with his real life plight. QED.


Pape found other factors associated with suicide attacks included
==History==
* the government of the targeted country being democratic and the public opinion of the country playing a role in determining policy.
===Background===
* a difference in religion between the attackers and occupiers;<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Vuong|first1=Quan-Hoang|title=A Mindsponge-Based Investigation into the Psycho-Religious Mechanism Behind Suicide Attacks|last2=Nguyen|first2=Minh-Hoang|last3=Le|first3=Tam-Tri|date=2021|publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH|isbn=9788366675582|language=en}}</ref>
Often acts of terrorism, such as the suicide bombing of civilians, are compared to the self-sacrifice of soldiers in wartime. The principle difference is that the soldier is implementing the policy of a nation and is thus held responsible, whereas a civilian may or may not support their nation's policies and may or may not consider the terrorist's nation (or peoples) an enemy.
* grassroots support for the attacks;<ref>Pape, ''Dying to Win'', p. 92.</ref>
* attackers disproportionately from the educated middle classes;{{sfn|Atran|2006|p=130}}
* high levels of brutality and cruelty by the occupiers,<ref>Pape, ''Dying to Win'', p. 60.</ref> and
* competition among militant groups fighting the occupiers.<ref>Pape, ''Dying to Win'', pp. 200–16.</ref>


Other researchers, such as Yotam Feldner, argue that perceived religious rewards in the hereafter are instrumental in encouraging Muslims to commit suicide attacks),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=ia&ID=IA2500|title=Contemporary Islamist Ideology Authorizing Genocidal Murder|publisher=MEMRI|date=January 27, 2004|access-date=May 19, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Yotam Feldner|url=http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=ia&ID=IA7401|title='72 Black Eyed Virgins': A Muslim Debate on the Rewards of Martyrs|publisher=MEMRI|access-date=May 19, 2010}}</ref> contend that Pape's analysis is flawed, particularly his contention that democracies are the main targets of such attacks.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Jackson Wade | first1 = Sara | author-link2 = Dan Reiter | last2 = Reiter | first2 = Dan | year = 2007 | title = Does Democracy Matter? Regime Type and Suicide Terrorism | doi = 10.1177/0022002706298137 | journal = Journal of Conflict Resolution | volume = 51 | issue = 2 | pages = 329–348 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.519.1840 | s2cid = 11699344 }}</ref> Other scholars have criticized Pape's research design, arguing that it cannot draw any conclusions on the causes of suicide terrorism.<ref name=":0" />
The concept of self-sacrifice has long been a part of war. From the earliest days of honoring fallen soldiers as ], those who sacrifice themselves to further a political, moral, or cultural ] have been and are still highly regarded figures in their respective societies. Soldiers who lay down their lives to protect their comrades are commonly awarded the highest recognition for ] in battle, while those who survive combat are honored for their physical and psychological sacrifice. An example for such self-sacrifice in warfare in medieval legend is ]. The earliest reference of a suicide attack outside a context of warfare is the biblical story of ]:
Atran argues that suicide bombing has moved on from the days of Pape's study,{{sfn|Atran|2006|p=130}} that non-Islamic groups have carried out very few bombings since 2003, while bombing by Muslim or Islamist groups associated with a "global ideology" of "martyrdom" has skyrocketed. In one year, in one Muslim country alone&nbsp;– 2004 in Iraq&nbsp;– there were 400 suicide attacks and 2,000 casualties.{{sfn|Atran|2006|p=131-133}} Other researchers ask why prominent anti-occupation secular terrorist groups—such as the ], ] or ] insurgents in Vietnam, Algeria, etc.<ref name=bootSbB/>—have not used suicide,<ref name=FPRI-horowitz/> why he does not mention that the first suicide attack in Lebanon (in 1981) targeted the embassy of Iraq, a country which was not occupying Lebanon.<ref name=bootSbB/>
<blockquote>And Samson said, 'Let me die with the Philistines!' And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. (] 16:30)</blockquote>


Mia Bloom agrees with Pape that competition among insurgents groups is a significant motivator, arguing the growth in suicide as a tactic is a product of "outbidding", i.e. the need by competing insurgent groups to demonstrate their commitment to the cause to broader public—making the ultimate sacrifice for the insurgency being a "bid" impossible to top.<ref>Bloom, Mia, ''Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror'' (2005), p.94-98</ref> (This explains its use by Palestinian groups, but not that by the Tamil Tigers.<ref name=FPRI-horowitz>{{cite web|last1=Horowitz |first1=Michael |title=The History and Future of Suicide Terrorism |url=http://www.fpri.org/articles/2008/08/history-and-future-suicide-terrorism |website=Foreign Policy Research Institute |access-date=22 October 2015 |date=August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922021706/http://www.fpri.org/articles/2008/08/history-and-future-suicide-terrorism |archive-date=September 22, 2015 }}</ref>)
During the ], the ] destroyed one of their own ships, killing 140 ]s in order to kill ten times as many ]s. Another early example of suicide bombing occurred during the ], when the ] ] ] detonated his own ship in the ] of ] to prevent being captured by the Belgians.
Still other researchers have identified sociopolitical factors as more central in the motivation of suicide attackers than religion.<ref>Galtung, Johan. "11 September 2001: Diagnosis, Prognosis, Therapy", In: ''Searching for peace&nbsp;– the road to TRANSCEND'', Galtung, Johan, Jacobsen, Carl, Brand-Jacobsen, Kai, London: Pluto Press, 2002, pp. 87–102</ref><ref name=klare-7-11-2001>{{cite news|author=Michael Klare |url=http://www.salon.com/sex/feature/2001/11/07/islam/index.html |title=Sex and the suicide bomber |work=Salon.com |date=November 7, 2001 |access-date=May 19, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100508041826/http://www.salon.com/sex/feature/2001/11/07/islam/index.html |archive-date=May 8, 2010 }}</ref>


According to Atran<ref>{{cite web|last=Atran|first=Scott|title=Terrorism and Radicalization: What Not to Do, What to Do|url=http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/Atran07/|publisher=Edge.org|access-date=2012-08-19|date=November 2007}}</ref> and former CIA case officer ],<ref>{{Cite book|author=Sageman, Marc|title=Leaderless Jihad|location=Philadelphia|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-8122-4065-8}} {{Page needed|date=December 2011}}</ref> support for suicide actions is triggered by moral outrage at perceived attacks against Islam and sacred values, but this is converted to action as a result of small-world factors (such as being part of a football club with other jihadis). Millions express sympathy with global jihad (according to a 2006 Gallup study involving more than 50,000 interviews in dozens of countries, seven percent or at least 90 million of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims consider the 9/11 attacks "completely justified").<ref name=Rahman>{{cite journal|last1=Rahman|first1=Jamal|title=In Review : Who Speaks for Islam?|journal=Yes! Magazine|date=Oct 31, 2008|url=http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/sustainable-happiness/in-review-who-speaks-for-islam|access-date=9 October 2015|archive-date=24 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124204240/http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/sustainable-happiness/in-review-who-speaks-for-islam|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=reardon-2015>An estimated 7–14% of Muslims worldwide (depending on the poll taken) supported the Al Qaeda strike against the United States.{{cite journal|title=Looking for the roots of terrorism |journal=Nature|first=Sara |last=Reardon |date=15 January 2015 |doi=10.1038/nature.2015.16732|s2cid=155646601|url=http://www.nature.com/news/looking-for-the-roots-of-terrorism-1.16732|access-date=5 October 2015}}</ref>
The act of deliberately destroying oneself to inflict harm on an enemy is more restricted to modern times and the era of explosives. The line between the two is considered by some a matter of subjectivity, as in the argument that many WWII soldiers killed were "]s" (in the sense that they were to suffer for the sake of a principle, rather than dying as the penalty for refusing to renounce a belief) because their life expectancy in combat was very low&mdash;often averaging only two or three months.
]
Also arguing that the increase in suicide terrorism since 2001 is really driven by ] ideology and Al-Qaeda is Assaf Moghadam.<ref name=Moghadam-2008>{{cite book|last1=Moghadam|first1=Assaf| author-link =Assaf Moghadam |title=The Globalization of Martyrdom: Al Qaeda, Salafi Jihad, and the Diffusion of ...|date=2008|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|pages=2–3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RMeqBfA9-RUC|access-date=22 October 2015|isbn=9781421401447}}</ref><ref name=Moghadam-2006>{{cite journal|last1=Moghadam|first1=Assaf| author-link =Assaf Moghadam |title=Suicide Terrorism, Occupation, and the Globalization of Martyrdom: A Critique of Dying to Win|journal=Studies in Conflict & Terrorism |date=2006|volume=29|issue=8|pages=707–729 |doi=10.1080/10576100600561907 |s2cid=143286352|doi-access=free}}</ref>


Updating his work in a 2010 book ''Cutting the Fuse'', Pape reported that a fine-grained analysis of the time and location of attacks strongly support his conclusion that "foreign military occupation accounts for 98.5%—and the deployment of American combat forces for 92%—of all the 1,833 suicide terrorist attacks around the world" between 2004 and 2009<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Pape|first1=Robert|author-link=Robert Pape|last2=Feldman|first2=James K.|title=Cutting the Fuse: The Explosion of Global Suicide Terrorism and How to Stop It|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-226-64560-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qZuXdUgb1gsC |page=28}}</ref> Pape wrote that "the success attributed to the surge in 2007 and 2008 was actually less the result of an increase in coalition forces and more to a change of strategy in Baghdad and the empowerment of the Sunnis in Anbar."{{sfn|Pape|Feldman|2010|p=33}}
Modern suicide bombing as a political tool can be traced back to the assisination of Czar Alexander II of Russia in 1881. Alexander fell victim to a Nihilist plot. While driving on one of the central streets of St. Petersburg, near the Winter Palace, he was mortally wounded by the explosion of hand-made grenades and died a few hours afterwards. The Czar was killed by the Pole Ignacy Hryniewiecki (1856-1881), who died while intentionally exploding the bomb in during the attack.


The same logic can be seen in Afghanistan. In 2004 and early 2005, NATO occupied the north and west, controlled by the Northern Alliance, whom NATO had previously helped fight the Taliban. An enormous spike in suicide terrorism only occurred later in 2005 as NATO moved into the south and east, which had previously been controlled by the Taliban and locals were more likely to see NATO as a foreign occupation threatening local culture and customs.{{sfn|Pape|Feldman|2010|p=36}} Critics argue the logic cannot be seen in Pakistan.<ref name=bootSbB>Max Boot, "," ''The Weekly Standard'', Aug 1, 2011.</ref><ref name=Abrahms-2012>{{cite journal|last1=Abrahms|first1=Max|title= Cutting the Fuse The Explosion of Global Suicide Terrorism and How to Stop It|journal=Middle East Quarterly|date=Spring 2012|volume=19|issue=2|url=http://www.meforum.org/3237/cutting-the-fuse|access-date=22 October 2015}}</ref> which has no occupation and the second highest number of suicide bombing fatalities as of mid-2015.
The ritual act of self-sacrifice during combat appeared in a large scale at the end of ] with the ]ese ] bombers. In these attacks, airplanes were used as flying bombs. Later in the war, as Japan became more desperate, this act became formalized and ritualized, as planes were outfitted with explosives specific to the task of a suicide mission. Kamikaze strikes were a weapon of symmetric war used by the ] chiefly against ] ]s.


===Islam===
The Japanese Navy also used both one and two man piloted ] called '']'' on suicide missions. Although sometimes called ]s, these were modified versions of the unmanned torpedoes of the time and are distinct from the torpedo-firing midget submarines used earlier in the war, which were designed to ] ] defences and return to a ] after firing their torpedoes. Though extremely hazardous, these midget submarine attacks were not technically suicide missions; while the early ''kaiten'' were equipped with escape hatches, there is no evidence that they were ever used or that the pilots had any intention of using them. Later kaitens, by contrast, provided no means of escape.
{{main|Islamic terrorism|Istishhad|Inghimasi}}
{{Jihadism sidebar}}


What connection the high percentage of suicide attacks executed by Islamist groups since 1980 has to do with the religion of Islam is disputed. Specifically, scholars, researchers, and others, disagree over whether Islam forbids suicide in the process of attacking enemies or the killing of civilians. According to a report compiled by the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism, 224 of 300 suicide terror attacks from 1980 to 2003 involved Islamist groups or took place in Muslim-majority lands.<ref name="autogenerated15">Pape, ''Dying to Win'', computed from Table 1, p. 15</ref> Another tabulation found more than a fourfold increase in suicide bombings in the two years following Papes study and that the overwhelming majority of these bombers were motivated by the ideology of Islamist martyrdom.{{sfn|Atran|2006|p=131-133}} (For example, as of early 2008, 1121 Muslim suicide bombers have blown themselves up in ].<ref name="commondreams1">Robert Fisk., commondreams.org, March 14, 2008.</ref>)
After aiming a two-person kaiten at their target, the two crew members traditionally embraced and shot each other in the head. Social support for such choices was strong, due in part to Japanese cultural history, in which ], honorable suicide, was part of ] ]. It was also fostered and indoctrinated by the Imperial program to ], often through ] (such as through doping), the Japanese soldiers to commit these acts.


====History====
Following World War II, ] "death volunteers" were used against the ] ] ].
Islamic suicide bombing is a fairly recent phenomenon. It was totally absent from the 1979–1989 ] against the Soviet Union,<ref name=FeldmanITNA/> (an asymmetrical war where the mujahideen fought Soviet warplanes, helicopters and tanks primarily with light weapons). According to author Sadakat Kadri, "the very idea that Muslims might blow themselves up for God was unheard of before 1983, and it was not until the early 1990s that anyone anywhere had tried to justify killing innocent Muslims who were not on a battlefield." After 1983 the process was limited among Muslims to Hezbollah and other Lebanese Shi'a factions for more than a decade.<ref name=kadri-168>{{cite book|last1=Kadri|first1=Sadakat|title=Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia ...|date=2012|publisher=macmillan|isbn=9780099523277|page=168|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ztCRZOhJ10wC&q=Heaven+on+Earth:+A+Journey+Through+Shari%27a+Law}}</ref>


Since then, the "vocabulary of martyrdom and sacrifice", videotaped pre-confession of faith by attackers have become part of "Islamic cultural consciousness", "instantly recognizable" to Muslims (according to Noah Feldman),<ref name=FeldmanITNA/> while the tactic has spread through the Muslim world "with astonishing speed and on a surprising course".<ref name=FeldmanITNA/>
In ] in the hall of the ] in ] (]), three Japanese used ]s and ]s to kill 26 people and wound more than a hundred. The group belonged to the ] (JRA) a terrorist organization created in ] and ] to the ] (PFLP). Until then, no group involved in terrorism had conducted such a suicide operation in Israel. Members of the JRA became instructors in ] and ] operations at several ] training camps bringing the suicide techniques to the ].


<blockquote>First the targets were American soldiers, then mostly Israelis, including women and children. From ] and Israel, the technique of suicide bombing moved to Iraq, where the targets have included mosques and shrines, and the intended victims have mostly been ] ]. ... ], ... both the perpetrators and the targets are orthodox ] Muslims. Not long ago, a bombing in Lashkar Gah, the capital of ], killed Muslims, including women, who were applying to go on ] to ]. Overall, the trend is definitively in the direction of Muslim-on-Muslim violence. By a conservative accounting, more than three times as many Iraqis have been killed by suicide bombings in just three years (2003–6) as have Israelis in ten (from 1996–2006). Suicide bombing has become the archetype of Muslim violence&nbsp;– not just to Westerners but also to Muslims themselves.<ref name=FeldmanITNA/></blockquote>
===1980s to present===
Lebanon, during ], saw the first modern suicide bombing: the ]'s ]ing of the Iraqi ] in ], in December ]. ]'s ] and ] in October 1983 brought suicide bombings international attention. Other parties to the civil war were quick to adopt the tactic, and by ] factions such as Hezbollah, the ], the ], and the ] had carried out around 50 suicide bombings between them. (The latter of these groups sent the first ] in ]. Female combatants have existed throughout human history and in many different societies, so it is possible that females who engage in suicidal attacks are not new.) Hezbollah was the only one to attack overseas, ] (and possibly the ]) in ]; as its military and political power have grown, it has since abandoned the tactic.


Recent research on the rationale of suicide bombing has identified both religious and sociopolitical motivations.<ref name="autogenerated2002">Olivetti, Vincetto (2002), ''Terror's Source''; {{ISBN|978-0-9543729-0-3}} {{Page needed|date=December 2011}}</ref><ref>Esposito, John (2003) ''Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam''; {{ISBN|978-0-19-516886-0}}{{Page needed|date=December 2011}}</ref><ref>Ayubi, Nazih (1991)''Political Islam''; {{ISBN|978-0-415-10385-5}} {{Page needed|date=December 2011}}</ref><ref>Mohammed Hafez, 2003 {{Page needed|date=December 2011}}</ref> Those who cite religious factors as an important influence note that religion provides the framework because the bombers believe they are acting in the name of Islam and will be rewarded as martyrs. Since martyrdom is seen as a step towards paradise, those who commit suicide while discarding their community from a common enemy believe that they will reach an ultimate salvation after they die.<ref name="autogenerated2002"/>
Lebanon saw the first bombing, but it was the ] who perfected the tactic and inspired its use elsewhere. Their ] unit have committed between 76 and 168 (estimates vary) suicide bombings since ], using more than 240 attackers. Their victims included former ] ] (killed by ]), many prominent Lankan leaders (among them the late PM ]), ]'s ], and even ]s.


In the media attention given to suicide bombing during the ] and after 9/11, sources hostile to radical Islamism quoted radical scholars promising various heavenly rewards, such as 70 virgins (]) as wives, to Muslims who die as martyrs, (specifically as suicide attackers).<ref name=virgins-2002>{{cite news|last1=Ibn Warraq|title=Virgins? What virgins?|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/jan/12/books.guardianreview5|access-date=8 October 2015|work=The Guardian|quote=In August, 2001, the American television channel CBS aired an interview with a Hamas activist Muhammad Abu Wardeh, who recruited terrorists for suicide bombings in Israel. Abu Wardeh was quoted as saying: 'I described to him how God would compensate the martyr for sacrificing his life for his land. If you become a martyr, God will give you 70 virgins, 70 wives and everlasting happiness.' |date=11 January 2002}}</ref><ref name=farmer-2007-55>{{cite book |last1=Farmer |first1=Brian R. |title=Understanding Radical Islam: Medieval Ideology in the Twenty-first Century |date=2007 |publisher=Peter Lang. |location=NY |isbn=978-0-8204-8843-1 |pages=55–56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bIQ0hhu8l7IC&q=Muhammad+Abu+Wardeh+virgins&pg=PA55 |access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref> Other alleged rewards for those dying are being cleansed of all sin and brought directly to paradise, not having to wait for the ].<ref name=Peters-147>{{cite book|last1=Peters|first1=Rudolph|editor1-last=Coolsaet|editor1-first=Rik|title=Jihadi Terrorism and the Radicalisation Challenge: European and American ...|date=2011|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|page=147|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GOKhAgAAQBAJ&q=jihad+go+directly+to+paradise&pg=PA147|access-date=15 October 2015|chapter=11. Dutch Extremist Islamism: Van Gogh's Murderer and his Ideas|isbn=9781409476450|quote=According to widespread Islamic belief, warriors killed in jihad are rendered free of sin and go directly to Paradise, ...}}</ref><ref name=Bamyeh>One scholar of history (Leor Halevi) suggests that suicide killers may be motivated by the idea that by dying while waging jihad they are transported directly to paradise, thus bypassing "the tortures of the grave" ("a state akin to the late Christian concept of ]"). {{cite journal|last1=Bamyeh|first1=Mohammad|title=Reviewed Work: Muhammad's Grave: Death Rites and the Making of Islamic Society by Leor Halevi|journal=Review of Middle East Studies |date=2009 |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=91–93 |jstor=41888571 |doi=10.1017/S2151348100000264 |s2cid=165022804}}</ref>
In ], in the early ], the ] forced men to become suicide bombers by threatening their families. The men were forced to drive vehicles containing bombs at ] or ] bases.


Others (such as ]) maintain that "the tendency to dwell on the sexual motives" of the suicide bombers "belittles" the bombers "sociopolitical causes", and that the alleged "sexual frustration" of young Muslim men "has been overly emphasized in the Western and Israeli media" as a motive for terrorism.<ref name=klare-7-11-2001/>
Suicide bombing has, since ], been a particularly popular tactic amongst some ] groups, including ], ], and the ]. Bombers affiliated with these groups often use so-called "]", ]s (often including ]) designed to be strapped to the body under clothing. In order to maximize the loss of life, the bombers may seek out cafés or city ] crowded with people at ], or less commonly a military target (for example, soldiers waiting for transport at roadside). By seeking enclosed locations, a successful bomber usually kills a number of people.


====Support for "martyrdom operations"====
Palestinian ] has aired a number of ] and announcements that ] ] reward for children who seek "'']''" , which ''Palestinian Media Watch'' has claimed is "Islamic motivation of suicide terrorists". '']'' has documented the concern of Palestinian parents that their children are encouraged to take part in suicide operations. Israeli sources have also alleged that Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah operate "Paradise Camps," training children as young as 11 to become suicide bombers.
Islamist militant organizations (including ], ] and ]) argue that despite what some Muslims claim is Islam's strict prohibition of suicide and murder,<ref name="jeeran_ruling_martyrdom">{{cite web |url=http://abdulhaqq.jeeran.com/ruling.html |title=The Islamic Ruling on the Permissibility of Martyrdom Operations |access-date=2004-10-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041011230417/http://abdulhaqq.jeeran.com/ruling.html |archive-date=October 11, 2004 }}. abdulhaqq.jeeran.com.</ref><ref name="jeeran_fatwa">{{cite web |url=http://abdulhaqq.jeeran.com/fatwa_sheikh_qaradhawi.html |title=Fatwa of Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi |access-date=2004-10-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041009222904/http://abdulhaqq.jeeran.com/fatwa_sheikh_qaradhawi.html |archive-date=October 9, 2004 }}. abdulhaqq.jeeran.com.</ref>
suicide attacks fulfill the obligation of ] against the "oppressor", "martyrs" will be rewarded with paradise, and have the support of (some) Muslim clerics.
Clerics have supported suicide attacks largely in connection with the Palestinian issue. Prominent Sunni cleric ] had previously supported such attacks by Palestinians in perceived defense of their homeland as heroic and an act of resistance.<ref>{{cite book|author=David Bukay|title=From Muhammad to Bin Laden: Religious and Ideological Sources of the Homicide Bombers Phenomenon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VNtBgbrNGUQC&pg=PA295|access-date=August 19, 2012|year=2008|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=978-0-7658-0390-0|pages=295–}}</ref> Shiite Lebanese cleric Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah, the spiritual authority recognized by Hezbollah, holds similar views.<ref name=FeldmanITNA/>


The articles maintains that ] (a companion of the Muhammad) and ] (the second caliph of Islam), approved acts in which the Muslims knew would lead to certain death, and that the Islamic prophet Muhammad also approved of such acts (according to authors Maulana Muawiya Hussaini and Ikrimah Anwar cited numerous ] of Muhammad on the authority of Islamic jurist ]). "The Sahaba who carried out the attacks almost certainly knew that they were going to be killed during their operations but they still carried them out and such acts were extolled and praised in the sharia."<ref name=IEA>{{cite web|last1=Hussaini|first1=Maulana Muawiya|last2=Anwar|first2=Ikrimah|title=Let's Understand 'Suicide Bombing'|url=http://shahamat-english.com/english/index.php/articles/32625-let-s-understand-suicide-bombing|website=Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Voices of Jihad|access-date=14 October 2015|archive-date=17 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117021403/http://shahamat-english.com/english/index.php/articles/32625-let-s-understand-suicide-bombing|url-status=dead}}</ref>
The ] involved the ] of large passenger ]s which were deliberately flown into the towers of the ] in ] and ], killing everyone aboard the planes and thousands more in and around the targeted buildings, thus making it one of the most destructive suicide attacks in history. The passenger jets selected were required to be fully fueled to fly cross-country, turning the planes themselves into the largest suicide bombs in history. The 'September 11' attacks also had a vast economic and political impact: for the cost of the lives of the 19 hijackers and financial expenditure of around US$100,000, ], the ] ] group responsible for the attacks, effected a trillion-dollar drop in global markets within one week, and triggered massive increases in military and security expenditure in response.


====Opposition and responses from Muslim scholars====
In ] ], ] attempted to destroy the ] by the means of a bomb hidden in a shoe. He was arrested after his attempt was foiled when he was unable to light the bomb's ].
Others (such as Middle East historian ]) disagree, noting


<blockquote>... a clear difference was made between throwing oneself to certain death at the hands of an overwhelmingly strong enemy, and dying by one's own hand. The first, if conducted in a properly authorized ] ], was a passport to heaven; the second to damnation. The blurring of their previously vital distinction was the work of some twentieth-century theologians who outlined the new theory which the suicide bombers put into practice."<ref name=ARSI-BL-xii>{{cite book|last1=Lewis|first1=Bernard|title=The Assassins, a radical sect in Islam|orig-year=1967|year=2003|publisher=Basic Books.|pages=xi–xii|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sRVmL_h_PcsC&q=islamic+hashishin+suicide|access-date=13 October 2015|isbn=9780786724550}}</ref></blockquote>
After the ]-led ], ] carried out waves of suicide bombings. They attacked ] targets, although many civilian targets (eg. ] ]s, international offices of the ] and the ], Iraqi men waiting to apply for jobs with the new army and ] force) were also attacked. In the lead up to the ], on ], ], suicide attacks upon civilian and security personnel involved with the ]s increased, and there were reports of the insurgents co-opting disabled people as involuntary suicide bombers .
] caught on CCTV at ] ] at 07:21 BST on July 7, 2005. From left to right, ], ], ], and ] . (Image: ])]]
Suicide bombings have occurred in more than 30 countries: ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], the ], ], the ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ]. (Suicide planes were also used in the ]).


The difference between engaging in an act where the perpetrator plans to fight to the death but where the attack does not require their death, is important to at least one Islamist terror group—] (LeT). While the group extols "martyrdom" and has killed many civilians, LeT believes suicide attacks where the attackers dies by their own hand (such as by pressing a detonation button), are haram (forbidden). Its "trademark" is that of perpetrators fighting "to the death" but escaping "if practical". "This distinction has been the subject of extensive discourse among radical Islamist leaders."<ref name=CATGLT-91>{{cite book|last1=Subrahmanian|first1=V.S.|last2=Sliva|first2=Amy|last3=Shakarian|first3=Jana|last4=Dickerson|first4=John P.|last5=Mannes|first5=Aaron|title=Computational Analysis of Terrorist Groups: Lashkar-e-Taiba|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media.|page=91|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ej1RD5dNykYC&q=Lashkar-e-Taiba,+fight+to+the+death&pg=PA91|access-date=6 October 2015|isbn=9781461447696|date=2012-08-28}}</ref>
==Range of opinions==
World leaders, especially those of countries that experience suicide bombings, usually express resolve to continue on their previous course of affairs after such attacks. They denounce suicide bombings and sometimes vow not to let such bombings deter ordinary people from going about their everyday business.


A number of Western and Muslim scholars of Islam have posited that suicide attacks are a clear violation of classical Islamic law and characterized such attacks against civilians as murderous and sinful.<ref name="CNN"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919222159/http://articles.cnn.com/2010-03-03/world/fatwa.against.terror_1_fatwa-ul-muslim-scholar?_s=PM:WORLD |date=2010-09-19 }}, Articles.cnn.com; retrieved August 19, 2012.</ref><ref name="Lewis 2008, p53">Lewis, Bernard & Buntzie Ellis Churchill. "Islam: The Religion and the People" (p. 53), Wharton School Publishing, 2008.<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref>
Suicide bombings in ] are usually followed by ]s. As a successful suicide bomber cannot be targeted, the response is often ] of the ], ], or ] from which the bomber came. Under the claim that such individuals and groups gave support to the suicide bomber, Israel often retaliates with military strikes against individuals as well as ]. In the ] the ] usually ] homes that belong to families whose children have volunteered for such missions. There are reports in the Israeli press about families who turned in their children after learning about a possible suicide bombing attack, fearful their house would be demolished.


According to ], "the emergence of the now widespread terrorism practice of suicide bombing is a development of the 20th century. It has no antecedents in Islamic history, and no justification in terms of Islamic theology, law, or tradition."<ref name="Lewis 2008, p53"/> Islamic legal ] or military ] are covered in detail in the classical texts of Islamic jurisprudence,<ref name=FeldmanITNA>{{cite news|author=Noah Feldman|title=Islam, Terror, and the Second Nuclear Age|newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/magazine/29islam.html?pagewanted=all|date=October 29, 2006}}</ref> which forbid the killing of women, children or non-combatants, and the destruction of cultivated or residential areas.<ref name=FeldmanITNA/><ref name=LewisChurchill>Bernard Lewis and Buntzie Ellis Churchill, ''Islam: The Religion and the People'', Wharton School Publishing, 2008, pp. 145–53.<!-- ISBN needed --></ref><ref>Muhammad Hamidullah, ''The Muslim Conduct of State'' (Ashraf Printing Press (1987); {{ISBN|1-56744-340-0}}, pp. 205–08</ref>
The effectiveness of suicide bombings&mdash;notably those of the Japanese ]s, the Palestinian bombers, and even the September 11, 2001 attacks&mdash;is debatable.
Although kamikaze attacks could not stop the ] advance the ], they inflicted more casualties and delayed the fall of ] for longer than might have been the case using only the conventional methods available to the ]. Subsequently, Japanese leaders acknowledged the great cost in losing many of their best young men in these actions. The attacks reinforced the resolution of the ] Allies to destroy the Imperial force, and may have had a significant effect in the decision to use ] against ].


For more than a millennium, these tenets were accepted by Sunnis and Shiites; however, since the 1980s militant Islamists have challenged the traditional Islamic rules of warfare to justify suicide attacks.<ref name=FeldmanITNA/><ref name=LewisChurchill/>
In the case of the September 11th attacks, the long-term effects remain to be seen, but in the short-to-medium term, the results were profoundly negative for Al-Qaeda as well as for the ]. Furthermore, since the September 11 attacks, Western nations have diverted massive resources towards stopping similar actions, as well as tightening up ]s, and military actions against various countries that the ] and its allies believe to have been involved with terrorism. However critics of the ] suggest that in fact the results were profoundly positive, as the proceeding actions of the ] and other countries has increased the number of recruits, and their willingness to carry out suicide bombings.


A number of respected Muslim scholars have provided scholastic refutations of suicide bombings, condemning them as terrorism prohibited in Islam and leading their perpetrators to hell.<ref name="CNN"/> In his 400+-page '']'' condemning suicide attacks, Muslim Islamic scholar Muhammad ] directly disputed the rationale of Islamists, arguing among other things that the indiscriminately killing of both Muslims and non-Muslims is unlawful, and brings the Muslim ] into disrepute, no matter how lofty the killers intentions.<ref name=Argon>{{cite news|last1=Argon|first1=Kemal|title=Who's Really Behind Tahir ul-Qadri's 500-Page Fatwa Against Terrorism and Suicide Bombings?|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kemal-argon/whos-really-behind-tahir-_b_1266232.html|access-date=14 October 2015|agency=Huffington Post Religion|date=14 February 2012}}</ref> Tahir-ul-Qadri states terrorism "has no place in Islamic teaching, and no justification can be provided to it...good intention cannot justify a wrong and forbidden act".<ref name="CNN"/>
It is more difficult to determine whether Palestinian suicide bombings have proved to be a successful tactic. In the ], the suicide bombers were repeatedly deployed since the ].
In ], the Israelis elected the conservative candidate ] who promised to restore safety by conditioning every step in the ] on Israel's assessment of the ]'s fulfillment of its obligations in curbing violence as outlined in the Oslo agreements.


The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, ], issued a fatwa on September 12, 2013, that suicide bombings are "great crimes" and bombers are "criminals who rush themselves to hell by their actions". Al Shaykh described suicide bombers as "robbed of their minds... who have been used (as tools) to destroy themselves and societies".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.alalam.ir/news/1543997|title=Saudi grand mufti says suicide bombers will go to hell|access-date=November 7, 2014}}</ref>
In the course of ] which followed the collapse of the ] summit between the ] and Israel, the number of suicide attacks drastically increased. In response, ] ] its army in order to seal off the ] and reinstate military control of the ], patrolling the area with ]s. The Israelis also began a campaign of targeted ]s to kill ] Palestinian leaders, using jets and ]s to deploy ].


{{blockquote|In view of the fast-moving dangerous developments in the Islamic world, it is very distressing to see the tendencies of permitting or underestimating the shedding of blood of Muslims and those under protection in their countries. The sectarian or ignorant utterances made by some of these people would benefit none other than the greedy, vindictive and envious people. Hence, we would like to draw attention to the seriousness of the attacks on Muslims or those who live under their protection or under a pact with them|Al Shaykh, quoting a number of verses from the Qur'an and Hadith.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101221425/http://www.saudiembassy.net/latest_news/news09171302.aspx |date=2014-01-01 }}, saudiembassy.net; accessed March 22, 2015.</ref>}}
The suicide missions, having killed hundreds and maimed thousands of Israelis, are believed by some to have brought on a move to the political right, increasing public support for hard-line policies towards the Palestinians, and a government headed by the former ], ] ]. In response to the suicide bombings, Sharon's government has imposed restrictions on the Palestinian community, making commerce, travel, school, and other aspects of life difficult for the Palestinians, with the average Palestinian suffering due to the choices of the suicide bombers. The ] under construction seem to be part of the Israeli government's efforts to stop suicide bombers from entering Israel proper.


In 2005, following a ] by the banned outfit ] ], the chief cleric of ] led a protest of ] denouncing ].<ref>{{cite news|title=Protest against Bangladesh bombs|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4512406.stm |publisher=BBC|access-date=27 January 2016|ref=9 December 2005}}</ref> He said:
Social support by some for this activity remained, however, as of the calling of a truce at the end of June ]. This may be due to the economic or social purpose of the suicide bombing and the bombers' refusal to accept external judgements on those who sanction them.


<blockquote>] prohibits ]. These bombers are enemies of Islam. ...It is a duty for all ] to stand up against those who are killing people in the name of ].</blockquote>
If the objective is to kill as many people as possible, suicide bombing by terrorists may thus "work" as a tactic in that it costs fewer lives than any conventional military tactic and targeting unarmed civilians is much easier than targeting soldiers. As an objective designed to achieve some form of favorable outcome, especially a political outcome, most believe it to be a failure. Terrorist campaigns involving the targeting of civilians have never won a war. Analysts believe that in order to win or succeed, any guerrilla or terrorist campaign must first transform into something more than a guerrilla or terrorist movement. Such analysts believe that a terrorist cause has little political attraction and success may be achieved only by renouncing terrorism and transforming the passions into politics.


In January 2006, ], a ] ] (high ranking cleric), decreed a ] against suicide bombing, declaring it a "terrorist act".<ref name="nytimes.com">], , ''New York Times'', October 29, 2006</ref><ref name=Khan-2010>{{cite news|last1=Khan|first1=Muqtedar|title=A fatwa against terrorism that might work|url=http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=27467&lan=en&sp=0|access-date=14 October 2015|agency=Common Ground News Service|date=16 March 2010}}</ref> In 2005 Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti also issued a fatwa "Against The Targeting Of Civilians".<ref> Fatwa against suicide bombing by Shaykh Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti; accessed 22 March 2015.</ref>
Often extremists assert that, because they are outclassed militarily, suicide bombings are necessary. For example, the former leader of ] ] stated: "Once we have warplanes and missiles, then we can think of changing our means of legitimate self-defense. But right now, we can only tackle the fire with our bare hands and sacrifice ourselves." <ref>Quoted in ], ''Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005) p. 3-4.</ref>


Ihsanic Intelligence, a London-based Islamic think-tank, published their two-year study into suicide bombings in the name of Islam, ''The Hijacked Caravan'',<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050906062050/http://www.ihsanic-intelligence.com/dox/The_Hijacked_Caravan.pdf |date=2005-09-06 }}, ihsanic-intelligence.com; retrieved August 19, 2012.</ref> which concluded that,
Such views are challenged both from the outside and from within Islam. According to Islamic jurist and scholar ],
<blockquote>The classical jurists, nearly without exception, argued that those who attack by stealth, while targeting noncombatants in order to terrorize the resident and wayfarer, are corrupters of the earth. "Resident and wayfarer" was a legal expression that meant that whether the attackers terrorize people in their urban centers or terrorize travelers, the result was the same: all such attacks constitute a corruption of the earth. The legal term given to people who act this way was ''muharibun'' (those who wage war against society), and the crime is called the crime of ''hiraba'' (waging war against society). The crime of ''hiraba'' was so serious and repugnant that, according to Islamic law, those guilty of this crime were considered enemies of humankind and were not to be given quarter or sanctuary anywhere.
...
Those who are familiar with the classical tradition will find the parallels between what were described as crimes of ''hiraba'' and what is often called terrorism today nothing short of remarkable. The classical jurists considered crimes such as assassinations, setting fires, or poisoning water wells - that could indiscriminately kill the innocent - as offenses of ''hiraba''. Furthermore, hijacking methods of transportation or crucifying people in order to spread fear and terror are also crimes of ''hiraba''. Importantly, Islamic law strictly prohibited the taking of hostages, the mutilation of corpses, and torture.<ref>]: ''The Great Theft. Wrestling Islam from the Extremists'' (HarperCollins 2005. ISBN 0060563397) p.243</ref></blockquote>


<blockquote>The technique of suicide bombing is anathema, antithetical and abhorrent to Sunni Islam. It is considered legally forbidden, constituting a reprehensible innovation in the Islamic tradition, morally an enormity of sin combining suicide and murder and theologically an act which has consequences of eternal damnation.<ref name="hijacked_caravan"> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051023075058/http://mac.abc.se/home/onesr/ez/isl/0-sbm/The.Hijacked.Caravan.html |date=October 23, 2005 }}, Mac.abc.se; retrieved August 19, 2012.</ref></blockquote>
=== The Islamist View ===
According to Professor Charles A. Kimball, chair of the Department of Religion at ] in ], "There is only one verse in the Qur'an that contains a phrase related to suicide", Verse 4:29 of the ]. It reads "O you who believe! Do not consume your wealth in the wrong way-rather through trade mutually agreed to, and do not kill yourselves. Surely God is Merciful toward you", but some commentators believe that the phrase "do not kill yourselves" is better translated "do not kill each other", and some translations (e.g. ]) reflect that. Mainstream Islamic groups such as the European Council for Fatwa and Research use the Quran'ic verse Al-Anam 6:151 ("And take not life, which Allah has made sacred, except by way of justice and law") as further reason to prohibit suicide.. In addition, the '']'' unambiguously forbid suicide.


American based Islamic jurist and scholar ] argues,
The Qur'an has several passages related to violence, such as:


<blockquote>The classical jurists, nearly without exception, argued that those who attack by stealth, while targeting noncombatants in order to terrorize the resident and wayfarer, are corrupters of the earth. "Resident and wayfarer" was a legal expression that meant that whether the attackers terrorize people in their urban centers or terrorize travelers, the result was the same: all such attacks constitute a corruption of the earth. The legal term given to people who act this way was ''muharibun'' (those who wage war against society), and the crime is called the crime of ''hiraba'' (waging war against society). The crime of ''hiraba'' was so serious and repugnant that, according to Islamic law, those guilty of this crime were considered enemies of humankind and were not to be given quarter or sanctuary anywhere .... Those who are familiar with the classical tradition will find the parallels between what were described as crimes of ''hiraba'' and what is often called terrorism today nothing short of remarkable. The classical jurists considered crimes such as assassinations, setting fires, or poisoning water wells&nbsp;– that could indiscriminately kill the innocent&nbsp;– as offenses of ''hiraba''. Furthermore, hijacking methods of transportation or crucifying people in order to spread fear are also crimes of ''hiraba''. Importantly, Islamic law strictly prohibited the taking of hostages, the mutilation of corpses, and torture.<ref>Khaled Abou Al-Fadl: ''The Great Theft. Wrestling Islam from the Extremists'', HarperCollins, p. 243 (2005); {{ISBN|0-06-056339-7}}.</ref></blockquote>
"When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them."


According to theologian Charles Kimball, "There is only one verse in the Qur'an that contains a phrase related to suicide" (4:29):<ref name=Burek-2001>{{cite news|last1=Burek|first1=Josh|title=Q&A: Islamic fundamentalism|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1004/p25s1-wosc.html|access-date=15 October 2015|agency=csmonitor.com|date=October 4, 2001}}</ref> "O you who have believed, do not consume one another's wealth unjustly but only business by mutual consent. And do not kill yourselves. Indeed, Allah is to you ever Merciful."<ref name="cite quran|4|29|s=ns">{{cite quran|4|29|s=ns}}</ref>
"But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleager them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem"


Some commentators posit that "do not kill yourselves" is better translated "do not kill each other", and some translations (e.g., by M. H. Shakir) reflect that view. Mainstream Islamic groups such as the ] also cite the Quranic verse ] 6:151<ref name="cite quran|6|151|s=ns">{{cite quran|6|151|s=ns}}</ref>)] as prohibiting suicide: "And take not life, which Allah has made sacred, except by way of justice and law".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?cid=1119503549272&pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaE%2FFatwaEAskTheScholar |title=Euthanasia: Types and Rulings |access-date=2009-06-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090630072120/http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?cid=1119503549272&pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaE%2FFatwaEAskTheScholar |archive-date=June 30, 2009 }}</ref> The '']'', including Bukhari 2:445, states: "The Prophet said, '...whoever commits suicide with a piece of iron will be punished with the same piece of iron in the Hell Fire', 'A man was inflicted with wounds and he committed suicide, and so Allah said: 'My slave has caused death on himself hurriedly, so I forbid Paradise for him.'"<ref>, sacred-texts.com; retrieved August 19, 2012.</ref><ref>Adil Salahi , Aljazeerah.info, June 22, 2004; retrieved August 19, 2012.</ref>


Other Muslims have also noted Quranic verses in opposition to suicide, to taking of life other than by way of justice (i.e. the death penalty for murder), and to collective punishment.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040731083315/http://islam.about.com/cs/currentevents/a/suicide_bomb.htm |date=2004-07-31 }}; accessed 22 March 2015</ref>


The international community considers the use of ]s on civilian populations<ref name="rwkckb07"/><ref name=NYslimes-humanShields>{{cite news|last1=Erlanger|first1=Steven and Fares Akram|title=Israel Warns Gaza Targets by Phone and Leaflet|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/09/world/middleeast/by-phone-and-leaflet-israeli-attackers-warn-gazans.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimesworld&_r=1|website=]|date=8 July 2014 |access-date=July 10, 2014}}</ref> as ].<ref name=ICRC-humanShieldsArt51>{{cite web|title=Protection of the civilian population|url=http://www.icrc.org/ihl/WebART/470-750065|website=Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), June 8, 1977|publisher=International Committee of the Red Cross|access-date=July 10, 2014}}</ref>
Nevertheless, there is no universal condemnation against suicide bombings in Islam, and there has never been any Muslim protest against terrorism. Some mainstream Muslim clerics, while condemning the ], have stated that under certain circumstances Islamic suicide bombings are justified. For example, Sayed Mohammed Musawi, head of the World Islamic League in London, insisted "there should be a clear distinction between the suicide bombing of those who are trying to defend themselves from occupiers, which is something different from those who kill civilians, which is a big crime." However some Muslims believe suicide attacks are generally forbidden by Islam. It is understood that the individuals undertaking suicide bombings (or "martyrdom operations") are simply following what they understand to be their Islamic duty, and regard their own lives in this world as less important compared to the next, eternal life. The radical schools of Islam teach that such a "martyrdom operation" may result in them being rewarded, by Allah, with Paradise (]) and rewards such as 72 ] in the afterlife. That is, they are willing to sacrifice their own life in the hope of becoming a Shaheed, a martyr.


====Public surveys====
Furthermore, Islamist militant organisations (including ], ] and ]) argue that martyrdom operations are justified according to Islamic law, despite Islam's strict prohibition of suicide and murder . ], in a conversation with one leader of Islamic Jihad noted their ideology.
{| class="wikitable floatright" style="text-align:right; max-width:35em"
|+Muslim views on suicide bombings, 2002 to 2014
|-
! {{diagonal split header|Location|Year}}
! {{vertical header|2002}}
! {{vertical header|2004}}
! {{vertical header|2005}}
! {{vertical header|2006}}
! {{vertical header|2007}}
! {{vertical header|2008}}
! {{vertical header|2009}}
! {{vertical header|2010}}
! {{vertical header|2011}}
! {{vertical header|2013}}
! {{vertical header|2014}}
|-
! ||colspan=11 style="text-align:center;"|Answer: "often" or "sometimes" justified (%)
|-
! Palestinian<br/> Territory
| –
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|70|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| {{Cell color|68|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| {{Cell color|68|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|62|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|46|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Lebanon
| {{Cell color|74|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| {{Cell color|39|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| {{Cell color|34|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|32|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|38|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|39|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|35|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|33|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|29|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Egypt
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|28|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|8|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|13|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|15|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|20|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|28|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|25|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|24|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Turkey
| {{Cell color|13|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|15|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|14|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|17|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|16|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|3|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|4|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|6|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|7|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|16|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|18|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Jordan
| {{Cell color|43|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| {{Cell color|57|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|29|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|23|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|25|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|12|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|20|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|13|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|12|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|15|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Tunisia
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|12|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|5|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Bangladesh
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|47|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Malaysia
| –
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|26|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|27|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|18|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Indonesia
| {{Cell color|26|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| {{Cell color|15|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|10|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|10|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|11|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|13|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|15|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|10|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|6|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|9|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Pakistan
| {{Cell color|33|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|41|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|25|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|14|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|9|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|5|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|5|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|8|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|5|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|3|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|3|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Tanzania
| {{Cell color|18|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|11|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|12|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|26|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Nigeria
| {{Cell color|47|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|46|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|42|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|32|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|43|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|34|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| {{Cell color|8|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|19|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Senegal
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|18|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|15|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Israel
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|7|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| {{Cell color|20|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|7|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|16|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
| colspan=12 style="text-align:left;"|Results of ] survey asking Muslims the question: <br/>"Suicide bombings can be ___ justified against civilian targets in order to defend Islam from its enemies?" <br/>Percentage of respondents choosing "often" or "sometimes" rather than "rarely" or "never".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2009/09/10/rejection-of-extremism/|title=Declining Support for bin Laden and Suicide Bombing|date=10 September 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2014/07/01/concerns-about-islamic-extremism-on-the-rise-in-middle-east/|title = Concerns about Islamic Extremism on the Rise in Middle East|date = July 2014}}</ref>
|}


Muslim support for suicide bombings against civilian targets in order to defend Islam has varied over time and by country. The ] survey of the Muslim public found that support has declined over the years since the post-] high. The highest support for suicide bombings has been reported in the occupied ], where in 2014, 46% of Muslims thought that such attacks were often or sometimes justified.
<blockquote>"What's the difference between suicide, which the Koran condemns, and martyrdom?" I asked. "Suicide," he replied, "is done out of despair. But remember: most of our martyrs today were very successful in their earthly lives." In short, there was a future to live for--and they detonated it anyway.</blockquote>


=== Gender ===
Since the four suicide bombings in London on July 7 2005, there have been many scholastic refutations of suicide bombings from Sunni Muslims. Ihsanic Intelligence, a London-based Islamic think-tank, published their two-year study into suicide bombings in the name of Islam, titled 'The Hijacked Caravan', which concluded that, "The technique of suicide bombing is anathema, antithetical and abhorrent to Sunni Islam. It is considered legally forbidden, constituting a reprehensible innovation in the Islamic tradition, morally an enormity of sin combining suicide and murder and theologically an act which has consequences of eternal damnation." The Oxford-based Malayist jurist, Shaykh Muhammad Shaykh Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti, issued his landmark fatwa on suicide bombing and targeting innocent civilians, titled 'Defending the Transgressed, by Censuring the Reckless against the Killing of Civilians', where he states suicide bombing in its most widespread form, is forbidden: 'If the attack involves a bomb placed on the body or placed so close to the bomber that when the bomber detonates it the bomber is certain to die, then the More Correct Position according to us is that it does constitute suicide. This is because the bomber, being also the Maqtul , is unquestionably the same Qatil = Qatil Nafsahu "
{{see also|Female suicide bomber}}
]
Suicide operatives are overwhelmingly male in most groups, but among ] rebels<ref>, nytimes.com; accessed 22 March 2015</ref> and the ] (PKK) women form the majority of the attackers.<ref>Pape, ''Dying to Win'', p. 209.</ref>


Female suicide bombers have been observed in many predominantly nationalist conflicts by a variety of organizations against both military and civilian targets. In February 2002, however, ], the religious leader of ], issued a fatwa, giving women permission to participate in suicide attacks.<ref name=cook-2006/>
In January of 2006, one of ]'s highest ranking ] clerics, ] also decreed a ] against suicide bombing, declaring it as a "terrorist act".


During the 1980s the greatest number of female suicide attacks in any single year was five. By contrast, in 2008 alone there were 35 female suicide attacks and in 2014 there were 15 such attacks according to the Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism (CPOST) Suicide Attack Database.<ref>{{cite web|title = UChicago CPOST|url = http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php|website = cpostdata.uchicago.edu|access-date = 2015-12-10|archive-date = 2014-08-23|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140823175940/http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php|url-status = dead}}</ref>
== Usage and related terms ==
* In ] on April 9, 1985, ], a member of the ] (SSNP), detonated an explosive-laden vehicle, which killed two Israeli soldiers and injured twelve more. She is believed to have been the first female suicide bomber.<ref name="FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBERS"/><ref name="books.google.com"/><ref name="martinfrost.ws"/><ref name="Rajan"/> She is known as "the Bride of the South".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dI4wOL2ETqAC |title=Ambiguities of Domination: Politics, Rhetoric, and Symbols in Contemporary Syria |author=Lisa Wedeen |date= 1999-06-15|publisher=University of Chicago Press |access-date=2016-01-17|isbn=9780226877884 }}</ref> During the ], female SSNP members bombed Israeli troops and the Israeli proxy militia the ].{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}
The usage of the term "suicide bombing" dates back to at least ]. An ], ] ] article mentions the term in relation to ] tactics. A ], ] article refers to a Japanese attempt at a "suicide bombing" on an American carrier. ] (London) of April 15, 1947, page 2, refers to a new pilotless, radio-controlled rocket missile thus: "Designed originally as a counter-measure to the Japanese 'suicide-bomber,' it is now a potent weapon for defence or offence."
* Sri Lanka's militant organization, the Black Wing Tigers, executed 330 suicide bombing attacks and were all executed mainly by women. The group was formed in 1987 and was disbanded in 2009.
The quotes are in the original and suggest that the phrase was an existing one. An earlier article (Aug 21, 1945, page 6) refers to a ] plane as a "suicide-bomb."
* On May 21, 1991, former Indian Prime minister ] was assassinated by ], a member of the ]. Approximately 30% of the organization's suicide bombings were carried out by women.<ref name=HSR2005-111>{{cite book|title=Human Security Report 2005: War and Peace in the 21st Century|date=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=111|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rSIrNeFWIfcC&pg=PA111|access-date=13 October 2015|isbn=9780195307399}}</ref>
* The ] ]s have attacked Russian troops in ] and Russian civilians elsewhere; for example, in the ]. {{citation needed|date=January 2015}}
* Women of the ] (PKK) have carried out suicide bombings primarily against ], in some cases strapping explosives to their abdomen in order to simulate pregnancy.<ref>Cragin, Kim; Daly, Sara A. (2009). , ABC-CLIO; accessed March 22, 2015.</ref>{{rp|66}}
* ], under ], became the first Palestinian female suicide bomber on January 28, 2002, when she blew herself up on Jaffa Road in Central Jerusalem.<ref name=rajan>{{cite book|last=Rajan|first=V.G. Julie|title=Women Suicide Bombers: narratives of violence|year=2011|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d8CsAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA221|isbn=978-0-415-55225-7}}</ref>{{rp|221}}
* On February 27, 2002, Darine Abu Aisha carried out a suicide bombing at the Maccabim checkpoint of the Israeli army near Jerusalem. On the same day, ], the religious leader of the Palestinian ] militant group ], issued a fatwa, or religious rule, that gave women permission to participate in suicide attacks, and stated that they would be rewarded in the afterlife.<ref name=cook-2006>Cook, Bernard A. (2006). , ABC-CLIO; accessed March 22, 2015.</ref>{{rp|315}}
* ], the third and youngest Palestinian female suicide bomber (at age 18), killed herself and two Israeli civilians on March 29, 2002, by detonating explosives belted to her body in a supermarket. She had been trained by the ], a group linked to the armed branch of ] (]'s party), more secular than ]. The killings gained widespread international attention due to Ayat's age and gender and the fact that one of the victims was also a teenage girl.
* ] deployed its first female suicide bomber, ], on January 14, 2004. Al-Riyashi attacked Erez checkpoint, killing 7 people.<ref name=rajan/>{{rp|171}}
* Two female attackers attacked U.S. troops in Iraq on August 5, 2003. Whereas female suicide bombers are not typically introduced in initial stages of a conflict, this attack demonstrates the early and significant involvement of Iraqi women in the Iraq War.<ref name=rajan/>{{rp|284}}
* On 29 March 2010, two female Chechen terrorists ] killing at least 38 people and injuring more than 60 people.
* The Taliban has used at least one female suicide bomber in Afghanistan.<ref>, CBC News, May 15, 2008; retrieved April 29, 2012.</ref>
* On December 25, 2010, the first female suicide bomber in Pakistan detonated her explosives-laden vest, killing at least 43 people at an aid distribution center in northwestern Pakistan.<ref>, nydailynews.com, December 25, 2010; retrieved April 29, 2012.</ref>
* On December 29, 2013, a female Chechen suicide bomber detonated her vest in the ] railway station killing at least 17 people.<ref name=CBS>{{cite news|title=Suicide bomber kills several at train station in Russia|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/female-suicide-bomber-kills-several-at-train-station-in-russia/|access-date=13 October 2015|agency=CBS News|date=December 29, 2013}}</ref>
* On December 23, 2016, the first female suicide bomber in Bangladesh detonated her explosive during a police raid.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2016/12/24/bangladesh-sees-first-female-suicide-bomber/ |title=Bangladesh's female jihadists |newspaper=Dhaka Tribune |date=2016-12-23 |access-date=2016-12-27}}</ref>


According to a report issued by intelligence analysts in the U.S. army in 2011, "Although women make up roughly 15% of the suicide bombers within groups which utilize females, they were responsible for 65% of assassinations; 20% of women who committed a suicide attack did so with the purpose of assassinating a specific individual, compared with 4% of male attackers." The report further stated that female suicide bombers often were "grieving the loss of family members seeking revenge against those they feel are responsible for the loss, unable to produce children, dishonored through sexual indiscretion."<ref>, publicintelligence.net; accessed July 11, 2015.</ref><ref>, ynetnews.com; accessed 22 March 2015</ref>
The term with the meaning "an attacker blowing up himself or a vehicle to kill others" appeared in ] when it was used in an ] article to describe the bombing of the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut.
Male suicide bombers are presented as being motivated more by political factors than female suicide bombers are.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rajan|first=V.G. Julie|title=Women Suicide Bombers: narratives of violence|year=2011|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d8CsAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA79|isbn=978-0-415-55225-7|page=79}}</ref>


Another study of suicide bombers from 1981 and July 2008 by Lindsey A. O'Rourke found female bombers are generally in their late twenties, significantly older than their male counterparts.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal|last1=O'Rourke|first1=L.A.|title=What Special About Female Suicide Terrorism?|journal=Security Studies|date=2009|volume=18|issue=4|pages=681–718|doi=10.1080/09636410903369084|s2cid=55378946}}</ref>
In order to assign either a more positive or negative connotation to the act, suicide bombing is sometimes referred to by different terms. Islamists often call the act a ''isshtahad'' (meaning '']''), and the suicide bomber a ''shahid'' (pl. ''shuhada'', literally 'witness' and usually translated as 'martyr'). The term denotes one who died in order to testify his faith in ], for example those who die while waging '']''; it is applied to suicide bombers, by the ] among others, in part to overcome Islamic strictures against suicide. This term has been embraced by ], ], ] and other Palestinian factions engaging in suicide bombings. (The title is by no means restricted to suicide bombers and can be used for a wide range of people, including innocent victims; ], for example, is among the most famous ''shuhada'' of the Intifada, and even a few non-Palestinians such as ] and ] have been called ''shahid''.)


O'Rourke found the average number of victims killed by a female suicide attacker was higher than that for male attackers for every group studied (Tamil, PKK, Lebanese, Chechen, Palestinian<ref name="orourke-2">{{cite journal|last1=O'Rourke|first1=L.A.|title=What Special About Female Suicide Terrorism?|journal=Security Studies|date=2009|volume=18|issue=4|page=688, Table 2|doi=10.1080/09636410903369084|s2cid=55378946}}</ref>). Consequently, terrorist organizations recruit and motivate women to participate in suicide attacks, using traditional attitudes of honor and feminine harmlessness and vulnerability among target populations to insert attackers were they can cause a maximum of death and destruction.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Bombs have been disguised as a pregnant belly, avoiding invasive searches, seen as taboo. By stumbling or calling out in distress more victims may be drawn to the explosion.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> These women have proven to be more deadly with higher completion rates with more casualties and deaths than their male counterparts. The woman bomber carriers are not permitted to hold and control the detonator, which are still held by the men in charge.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Until recently, attacks of women bombers were considered more newsworthy because of the "unladylike" behavior of their perpetrator.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Yarchi|first1=Moran|title=The Effect of Female Suicide Attacks on Foreign Media Framing of Conflicts: The Case of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict|journal=Studies in Conflict and Terrorism|date=2014|volume=37|issue=8|pages=674–688|doi=10.1080/1057610x.2014.921768|s2cid=111161699}}</ref>
==="Homicide bombing"===
Some effort has been made to replace the term ''suicide bombing'' with the term '''''homicide bombing'''''. The first such use was by ] ] in April ] with the intent to emphasize the ] of the bomber's victims and also to de-emphasize any ] connotations associated with the term ''suicide''.


==== Gendered motivations ====
With the exceptions of '']'' and the '']'' (both owned by ] ]) the phrase is not used. The argument can be made that "homicide bombing" is a ] as it's not an accurate term and also a ] since "bombing" already implies the intent to kill so the adjective "homicide" adds no information, yet dropping the adjective "suicide" omits information about the specific tactic employed by the bomber.
Women are in some traditions customarily seen as peace-makers rather than as front-line actors in conflicts.<ref>Clonan, Tom. "The History of Women in Combat." Technological School of Dublin, School of Media, 1998, pp. 117-162</ref> This misconception has made them useful as suicide bombers, because they might be underestimated and thus be able to enter target areas inconspicuously, leading to more lethal suicide attacks.<ref>O'Rourke, L. "What's Special about Female Suicide Terrorism." Security Studies. Vol. 18. 2009. Pp. 681-718</ref> Whether women's motivations for becoming suicide bombers generally differ from men's remains a pertinent question. Bloom has suggested some salient reasons for women to turn to suicide bombings, such as "to avenge a personal loss, to redeem the family name, to escape a life of sheltered monotony and achieve fame, or to equalize the patriarchal societies in which they live."<ref name=":1">Bloom, Mia. "Female Suicide Bombers: A Global Trend." Daedalus, vol. 136, no. 1, The MIT Press, 2007, pp. 94–102, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20028092.</ref> Some earlier literature suggested that women tend to be motivated by personal trauma rather than by ideological reasons.<ref name=":1"/> Other researchers disagree with this assessment and state that it reduces the political agency of women, seeing as they are just as capable of making a choice based on ideology.<ref>Gowrinathan, Nimmi. "Evident Truths: American Women at War." Los Angeles Review of Books, LA Review of Books, 2 Apr. 2021, lareviewofbooks.org/article/evident-truths-american-women-at-war/.</ref> Women's as well as men's usual motivations for becoming suicide bombers should be assumed to be nuanced and complex.<ref>Amireh, Amal. "Palestinian Women's Disappearing Act: The Suicide Bomber through Western Feminist Eyes." MIT Electronic Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 5, Spring 2005. Pp. 228-242</ref>


== Notes == ===Specific groups===
Studies have attempted to learn the history and motivation of suicide attackers.
<references/>


== See also == ====Al-Qaeda====
]
* ]
Analysis of the 9/11 ] attackers found almost all had joined the group with someone else. About 70% joined with friends, 20% with kin. Interviews with friends of the 9/11 pilots reveal they were not "recruited" into Qaeda. They were Middle Eastern Arabs isolated even among the Moroccan and Turkish Muslims who predominate in Germany. Seeking friendship, they began hanging out after services at the Masjad al-Quds and other nearby mosques in ], in local restaurants and in the dormitory of the Technical University in the suburb of Harburg. Three (], ], ]) wound up living together as they self-radicalized. They wanted to go to ], then ].<ref name=ATRAN>{{cite web|last1=Atran|first1=Scott|title=The Making of a Terrorist: A Need for Understanding from the Field Testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security Washington, DC |url=http://sitemaker.umich.edu/satran/files/atran_congress_12march08.pdf |website=umich.edu |access-date=4 October 2015 |date=March 12, 2008}}</ref>
* ]
* ]
* ]


====Hamas====
== External links, resources, references ==
]
*

* {{PDFlink}}
]'s most sustained suicide bombing campaign in 2003–04 involved several members of Hebron's Masjad (mosque) al-Jihad soccer team. Most lived in the Wad Abu Katila neighborhood and belonged to the al-Qawasmeh ] (clan); several were classmates in the neighborhood's local branch of the Palestinian Polytechnic College. Their ages ranged from 18 to 22. At least eight team members were dispatched to suicide shooting and bombing operations by the Hamas military leader in Hebron, Abdullah al-Qawasmeh (killed by Israeli forces in June 2003 and succeeded by his relatives Basel al-Qawasmeh, killed in September 2003, and Imad al-Qawasmeh, captured on October 13, 2004). In retaliation for the assassinations of Hamas leaders Sheikh ] (March 22, 2004) and ] (April 17, 2004), Imad al-Qawasmeh dispatched Ahmed al-Qawasmeh and Nasim al-Ja'abri for a suicide attack on two buses in Beer Sheva (August 31, 2004). In December 2004, Hamas declared a halt to suicide attacks.<ref name=ATRAN/>
* by ] published in ] June 2003

* Why do they do it, and what does Islam say about their actions?
On January 15, 2008, the son of ], the leader of Hamas in the ], was killed (another son was killed in a 2003 assassination attempt on Zahar). Three days later, Israel Defense Minister ] ordered ] to seal all border crossings with Gaza, cutting off the flow of supplies to the territory in an attempt to stop rocket barrages on Israeli border towns. Nevertheless, violence from both sides only increased. On February 4, 2008, two friends (Mohammed Herbawi, Shadi Zghayer), who were members of the Masjad al-Jihad soccer team, staged a suicide bombing at commercial center in Dimona, Israel. Herbawi had previously been arrested as a 17-year-old on 15 March 2003 shortly after a suicide bombing on Haifa bus (by Mamoud al-Qawasmeh on March 5, 2003) and coordinated suicide shooting attacks on Israeli settlements by others on the team (March 7, 2003, Muhsein, Hazem al-Qawasmeh, Fadi Fahuri, Sufian Hariz) and before another set of suicide bombings by team members in Hebron and Jerusalem on May 17–18, 2003 (Fuad al-Qawasmeh, Basem Takruri, Mujahed al-Ja'abri). Although Hamas claimed responsibility for the Dimona attack, the politburo leadership in Damascus and Beirut was clearly initially unaware of who initiated and carried out the attack. It appears that Ahmad al-Ja'abri, military commander of Hamas's ] in Gaza requested the suicide attack through Ayoub Qawasmeh, Hamas's military liaison in Hebron, who knew where to look for eager young men who had self-radicalized together and had already mentally prepared themselves for martyrdom.<ref name=ATRAN/><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130407141943/http://www.edge.org/q2008/q08_9.html#atran |date=2013-04-07 }}, Edge.org; retrieved August 19, 2012.</ref>
* Fatwa against suicide bombing by Shaykh Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti

* - Suicide bomber profile and info
====LTTE====
* How suicide bombing became not just a means but an end by ] in ] June 2002
The ] were thought to have mastered the use of ] and had a separate unit, "The ]", consisting "exclusively of cadres who have volunteered to conduct suicide operations".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1703/17031060.htm|title=The LTTE and suicide terrorism|publisher=Hinduonnet.com|access-date=May 19, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100504204040/http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1703/17031060.htm|archive-date=May 4, 2010}}</ref>
* Suicide Bombing Attacks Against Israeli Civilians

*
====Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant====
*
The ] utilizes suicide attacks against government targets before they attack. The attackers can use a wide range of methods, from suicide vests and belts to bomb trucks and cars and APCs filled to the brim with explosives. Usually, the suicide bomber involved in a "martyrdom operation" will record his last words in a martyrdom video before they start their attack and will be released after the suicide attack was done.
* The Telegraph.

* - list of women terrorist-bombers.
A study published by ] in 2017 analyzed 923 attacks done between December 2015 and November 2016 and compared the military tactic to those used by kamikaze operations.<ref name=guardian2017>{{cite news |author=Jamie Gierson |title=Isis has industrialised martyrdom, says report into suicide attacks |newspaper=] |date=February 28, 2017 }}</ref> Charlie Winter, author of the study, indicated that ISIL had "industrialized the concept of martyrdom". Most (84%) of suicide attacks were directed towards military targets usually with armed vehicles. About 80% of the attackers were of Iraqi or Syrian origin.<ref name=guardian2017/>
*

*
==Response and results==
*
===Response===
* - A web article
Suicide bombings are often followed by heightened security measures and ]s by their targets. Because a deceased suicide bomber cannot be targeted, the response is often a targeting of those believed to have sent the bomber. Because future attacks cannot be deterred by the threat of retaliation if the attackers were already willing to kill themselves, pressure is great to employ intensive surveillance of virtually any potential perpetrator, "to look for them almost everywhere, even if no evidence existed that they were there at all".<ref name=NPR-USTaHTOSI/>
* ''Warning: Graphic Images''

* By Abdassamad Clarke
In the ], the ] has at times ] homes that belong to families whose children (or landlords whose tenants) had volunteered for such missions, whether completed or not.<ref name="demolition">'''' ], November 2004</ref><ref>An internal review starting in October 2004 brought an end to the policy, but it was resumed in 2014. (source: Ed Farrian. , Ministry of Foreign Affairs, mfa.gov.il; accessed July 11, 2015.</ref>
* - 2006 Documentary by Pierre Rehov
Other military measures taken during the suicide attack campaign included: a widescale re-occupation of the West Bank and blockading of Palestinian towns; "targeted assassinations" of militants, (an approach used since the 1970s); raids against militants suspected of plotting attacks; mass arrests; curfews; stringent travel restrictions; and physical separation from Palestinians via the 650-km (400-mile) ] in and around the West Bank.<ref name=BBC-2007/><ref name=PBS-FSDoP>{{cite web|title=Frontline : Shattered Dreams of Peace|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/oslo/negotiations/|website=PBS.ORG|access-date=21 October 2015|quote=On March 29, 2002, after a suicide bomber killed 30 people, Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield. Israel's troops re-entered Palestinian cities and refugee camps, hunting down terrorists and often leaving massive destruction in their wake. Three months later, in mid-June 2002, two more suicide bombings struck Israel. Sharon announced Israel would immediately begin a policy of taking back land in the West Bank, and holding it, until the terror attacks stopped.}}</ref> The ] and its suicide attacks are often dated as ending around the time of an unofficial ceasefire by some of the most powerful Palestinian militant groups in 2005.<ref name=BBC-2007>{{cite news|title=Analysis: Palestinian suicide attacks|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3256858.stm|access-date=13 October 2015|agency=BBC News|date=29 January 2007}}</ref> A new "]" started in September 2015, but although many Palestinians were killed in the process of stabbing or attempting to stab Israelis, their deaths were not "a precondition for the success" of their mission and so are not considered suicide attacks by many observers.<ref name=ICT-STDC/>

In the United States, the element of suicide in the September 11th, 2001 attacks persuaded many that previously unthinkable, "out of the box" strategic policies in a "war on terrorism"—from "preventive war" against countries not immediately attacking the US, to almost unlimited surveillance of virtually any person in the United States by the government without normal congressional and judicial oversight—was necessary.<ref name=NPR-USTaHTOSI>, npr.org; accessed 22 March 2015</ref> These responses "produced their own costs and risks—in lives, national debt, and America's standing in the world".<ref name=NPR-USTaHTOSI/>

The "heightened security measures" also affected the target populations. During the bombing campaign Israelis were questioned by armed guards and given a quick pat down before being let into cafes.<ref name=HOFFMAN-6-2003>{{cite journal|last1=Hoffman|first1=Bruce|title=The Logic of Suicide Terrorism|journal=The Atlantic|date=June 2003|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/06/the-logic-of-suicide-terrorism/302739/|access-date=13 October 2015}}</ref> In the US, the post-9/11 era meant "previously inconceivable security measures—in airports and other transportation hubs, hotels and office buildings, sports stadiums and concert halls".<ref name=HOFFMAN-6-2003/>

===Results===
]
One of the first bombing campaigns utilizing primarily suicide attacks had considerable political success. In the early 1980s Hezbollah used these bombing attacks targeting first foreign peacekeepers and then Israel. The result in both cases was withdrawal from Lebanon by the targets.<ref name=Boot-strategic>{{cite news|last1=Boot|first1=Max|title=When suicide bombing is simply strategic suicide|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-apr-07-la-oe-boot7-2010apr07-story.html|access-date=7 October 2015|work=Los Angeles Times|date=7 April 2010}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2023}}

Other groups have had mixed results. The ] (LTTE) pioneered the use of suicide bombings against civilian and political targets and in 2000 were called (by Yoram Schweitzer) "unequivocally the most effective and brutal terrorist organization ever to utilize suicide terrorism".<ref name=ICT-STDC/> Their struggle for an ] state in the ] and ] of the island lasted for 26 years and led to the deaths of two heads of state or government, several ministers, and up to 100,000 combatants and civilians (by a ] estimate).<ref>{{Cite news| url =http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/20/2576543.htm | title =Up to 100,000 killed in Sri Lanka's civil war: UN| publisher = ]|date = 20 May 2009}}</ref> Politically its attacks succeeded in halting the deployment of the Indian peace keeping troops to Sri Lanka and the subsequent postponement of the peace-talks in Sri Lanka.<ref name=ICT-STDC/> Nonetheless, it ended in May 2009 not with an independent "Eelam", but with the overrunning of LTTE strongholds and the killing of its leadership by the Sri Lankan military and security forces.

It is more difficult to determine whether Palestinian suicide bombings have proved to be a successful political tactic. Hamas "came to prominence" after the first intifada as "the main Palestinian opponent of the ]" ("the US-sponsored peace process that oversaw the gradual and partial removal of Israel's occupation in return for Palestinian guarantees to protect Israeli security")<ref name=BBC-Hamas-2009/> according to the BBC.<ref name=BBC-Hamas-2009>{{cite news|title=Who are Hamas?|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1654510.stm|access-date=14 November 2015|agency=BBC News|date=4 January 2009}}</ref><ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206172711/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+before+2000/Fatal+Terrorist+Attacks+in+Israel+Since+the+DOP+-S.htm |date=2010-12-06 }}, Mfa.gov.il; retrieved August 19, 2012.</ref>
The accords were sidetracked after the election in 1996 of right wing Israeli leader ]. Hamas's suicide bombings of Israeli targets—from 1994 to 1997 there were 14 suicide attacks killing 159, not all of which were attributed to Hamas<ref>{{cite web|title=Year: 1982–2015. Group|url=http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|website=Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism Suicide Attack Database|access-date=2015-11-20|archive-date=2016-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124204240/http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|url-status=dead}} Click "Search Database", then under "filter by", click "location", click Israel and after getting the results click "year".</ref>—"were widely" credited for the popularity among Israelis of the hardline Netanyahu,<ref name=BBC-Hamas-2009/> who—like Hamas—was a staunch opponent of the Oslo accords, but an even stauncher enemy of Hamas.

The efficacy of suicide bombing, however, does not appear to have demonstrated by the ]. During this Intifada, the number of suicide attacks increased markedly,<ref>In the first campaign from 1994–1997 there were 14 suicide attacks, in the second from 2001–2005 there were 93 attacks.(source: (Click "Search Database", then under "filter by", click "location", click Israel and after getting the results click "year".){{cite web|title=Year: 1982–2015. Group|url=http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|website=Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism Suicide Attack Database|access-date=2015-11-20|archive-date=2016-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124204240/http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|url-status=dead}}</ref> but petered out around 2005 following harsh Israeli security measures (mentioned above) such as "targeted assassinations" of Palestinians reportedly involved in terrorism, and the building of a "]" that severely hampered Palestinian travel, but with no withdrawal by the Israelis from any occupied territory.

The drop in suicide bombings in Israel has been explained by the many security measures taken by the Israeli government,<ref name=Schweitzer-2010/><ref name=BBC-2007/> especially the building of the "separation barrier",<ref>{{cite web|last1=Weinstein|first1=Jamie|title=Barrier's Success Counted In Lives|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2004-02-02/news/0401300663_1_west-bank-barrier-sound-barriers-suicide-bombings|website=Sun-Sentinel|date=February 2, 2004|access-date=August 1, 2014|archive-date=August 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811072549/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2004-02-02/news/0401300663_1_west-bank-barrier-sound-barriers-suicide-bombings|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=HuffPost-2013/> and a general consensus among Palestinians that the bombings were a "losing strategy".<ref name=HuffPost-2013>{{cite news|last1=Steves|first1=Rick|title=The Security Fence, the Anti-Terrorism Barrier, the Wall|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rick-steves/the-security-fence-the-an_b_4296601.html|access-date=13 October 2015|agency=HuffPost|date=2013-11-18}}</ref> The suicide and other attacks on civilians had "a major impact" on the attitudes of the Israeli public/voters,<ref name=Waxman-2011/> creating not demoralization, but even greater support for the right-wing ] party, bringing to office another hardliner, former ], ] ]. In 2001, 89% of Israeli Jews supported the Sharon government's policy of "targeted assassinations" of Palestinian militants involved in terrorism against Israel, the number rising to 92% in 2003.<ref name=Waxman-2011>{{cite journal|last1=Waxman|first1=Dov|title=Living with terror, not Living in Terror: The Impact of Chronic Terrorism on Israeli Society |journal=Perspectives on Terrorism|date=2011|volume=5|issue=5–6|url=http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/living-with-terror/html|access-date=14 October 2015|quote=Palestinian terrorism during the second Intifada clearly affected the political preferences of the Israeli electorate. Sharon's resounding victory in the 2001 election was one indication of this effect. Another was the Likud party's decisive win in the 2003 Knesset elections, doubling the number of its seats in parliament (from 19 to 38), while the rival pro-negotiation center-left Labor party lost seven seats (dropping from 26 to 19 seats). Not only did Palestinian terrorism boost the electoral appeal of the political right in Israel, it also helped to bring about a rightward shift in the political positions of the Israeli public. In general, more Israelis identified themselves as right-wing and fewer as left-wing. ... Palestinian terrorism ... had a major impact on their attitudes towards the use of force against Palestinians. Israeli Jews became much more militant and ‘hawkish.' ... Angry and embittered by the seemingly endless series of gruesome Palestinian suicide bombings inside Israel, the vast majority of the Israeli public staunchly supported the Sharon government's offensive military measures against the Palestinians. In 2001, for instance, 89 percent of Israeli Jews supported the Sharon government's policy of "targeted assassinations" of Palestinian militants involved in terrorism against Israel}}</ref> Opinion polls of the Jewish Israelis found 78–84% support for the "]" in 2004.<ref> – Haaretz&nbsp;— Israel News&nbsp;— Ephraim Yaar, Tamar Hermann&nbsp;— March 10, 2004</ref>

In the case of the ] in the US, at least in the short term, the results were negative for Al-Qaeda, as well as the ]. Since the attacks, Western nations have diverted massive resources towards stopping similar actions, as well as tightening up ]s, and military actions against various countries believed to have been involved with terrorism.<ref name=Servamus-99-17>{{cite book|title=Servamus, Volume 99|date=2006|publisher=SARP-Uitgevers|page=17|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yDgFAQAAIAAJ&q=have+diverted+massive+resources+towards+stopping+similar+actions,+as+well+as+tightening+up+borders,|access-date=15 October 2015}}</ref> Critics of the ] suggest the results were negative, as the proceeding actions of the United States and other countries has increased the number of recruits, and their willingness to carry out suicide bombings.

==See also==<!-- Please respect alphabetical order -->
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]

== Explanatory notes ==
{{notelist|group=lower-alpha}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
* {{cite journal |last1=Atran |first1=Scott |author1-link=Scott Atran |url=http://www.sitemaker.umich.edu/satran/files/twq06spring_atran.pdf |title=The Moral Logic and Growth of Suicide Terrorism |journal=] |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=127–147 |year=2006 |doi=10.1162/016366006776026239 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623022648/http://www.sitemaker.umich.edu/satran/files/twq06spring_atran.pdf |archive-date=June 23, 2015 }}
* {{cite book|title=The General: Charles DeGaulle and the France He Saved|first=Jonathan|last=Fenby|year=2010|publisher=Simon and Schuster|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dhuNIR6GKPcC&q=dare+to+die+corps+swords&pg=PA319|page=319|isbn=978-0857200679|access-date=April 24, 2014}}
* {{cite book|title=Historical Dictionary of Modern China (1800–1949)|first=James Z.|last=Gao|volume=25 of Historical Dictionaries of Ancient Civilizations and Historical Eras|edition=illustrated|year=2009|publisher=Scarecrow Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wJrLhcgog8oC&q=dare+to+die+taierzhuang+japanese&pg=PA350|page=350|isbn=978-0810863088|access-date=24 April 2014}}
* {{Cite book|author=Lankford, Adam|title=The Myth of Martyrdom: What Really Drives Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self-Destructive Killers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_QXNiFSGpjEC&q=myth+of+martyrdom|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=New York|year=2013|isbn=978-0-230-34213-2}}
* {{cite book|title=Bittersweet|first=Leslie|last=Li|year=1992|publisher=C.E. Tuttle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N68GRK67FjQC&q=dare+to+die+taierzhuang+japanese|page=234|isbn=978-0804817776|access-date=April 24, 2014}}
* {{Cite book|last=Pape|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Pape|title=Dying to Win|publisher=Random House|location=New York|year=2005|isbn=9781588364609|url=https://archive.org/details/dyingtowinstrate00pape}}
* {{cite book|author=Pedahzur, Ami|title=Suicide Terrorism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_5XBVsosvzYC&pg=PA66|year=2004|publisher=Polity|isbn=978-0-7456-3383-1|access-date=March 22, 2015}}


==Further reading== ==Further reading==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Rex Hudson (2002), ''Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why: The 1999 Government Report on Profiling Terrorists'', Lyons Press, ISBN 1585747548
;Books
* Mia Bloom (2005), ''Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror'', Columbia University Press, ISBN 0231133200
* {{Cite book|last=Barlow|first=Hugh|title=Dead for Good|publisher=Paradigm Publishers|year=2007|isbn=978-1-59451-324-4}}
* ] (2005), '']'', Random House, ISBN 1400063175
* {{Cite book|last=Bloom|first=Mia|title=Dying to Kill|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York|year=2005|isbn=978-0-231-13320-3|url=https://archive.org/details/dyingtokillallur00bloo}}
* Diego Gambetta, Editor (2005), ''Making Sense of Suicide Missions'', OUP, ISBN 0199276994
* {{Cite book|last=Davis|first=Joyce M.|year=2004|title=Martyrs: Innocence, Vengeance, and Despair in the Middle East|url=https://archive.org/details/martyrsinnocence00davi|url-access=registration| publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1-4039-6681-0}}
* Farhad Khosrokhavar, translated by David Macey (2005), ''Suicide Bombers: Allah's New Martyrs'', Pluto Press, ISBN 0745322832
* {{Cite book|last1=Falk|first1= Ophir|last2=Morgenstern|first2=Henry|title=Suicide Terror: Understanding and Confronting the Threat|publisher=Wiley|location=Hoboken, NJ|year=2009|isbn=978-0-470-08729-9}}
*]. 1996. .
*]. 1966. ''Hell in a Very Small Place: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu''. Da Capo Press. (References to suicide bombers on pages 352 and 368). * {{Cite book|last=Fall|first=Bernard B.|author-link=Bernard B. Fall|title=Hell in a Very Small Place|publisher=Da Capo Press| location=New York|year=1985|isbn=978-0-306-80231-7}}
* {{Cite book|last=Gambetta|first=Diego|title=Making Sense of Suicide Missions|publisher=]| location=Oxford Oxfordshire|year=2005|isbn=978-0-19-927699-8}}
*M.R. Narayan Swamy. 1996. ''Tigers of Lanka: From Boys to Guerrillas'', 2nd Ed. Vijitha Yapa Bookshop (Colombo).
* {{Cite book|last=Hafez|first=Mohammed|author-link=Mohammed Hafez (academic)|title=Suicide Bombers in Iraq|publisher=U.S. Institute of Peace Press|location=Washington|year=2007|isbn=978-1-60127-004-7|url=https://archive.org/details/suicidebombersin00hafe}}
* Dr. Eyad Sarraj. "Why we have become Suicide Bombers".
* {{cite book|last=Hassan|first=Riaz|year=2010|title=Life as a Weapon: The Global Rise of Suicide Bombings|publisher=]|isbn=978-0-415-58885-0}}
* Gerhart Scheit. 2005. ''Suicide Attack'' ISBN 3-924627-87-8 (German)
* {{cite book|last=Hassan|first=Riaz|year=2011|title=Suicide Bombings|publisher=]|isbn=978-0-415-58886-7}}
* {{Cite book|last=Hudson|first=Rex|title=Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why|publisher=The Lyons Press|year=2002|isbn=978-1-58574-754-2}}
* {{Cite book|last=Jayawardena|first=Hemamal|title=Forensic Medical Aspects of Terrorist Explosive Attacks|publisher=Zeilan Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-9793624-2-2}}
* {{Cite book|last=Khosrokhavar|first=Farhad|title=Suicide Bombers|publisher=Pluto Press|location=]|year=2005|isbn=978-0-7453-2283-4|url=https://archive.org/details/suicidebombersal00khos_0}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Oliver|first1=Anne Marie|last2=Steinberg|first2=Paul|title=The Road to Martyrs' Square|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|year=2004|isbn=978-0-19-530559-3}}
* {{cite book|author=Lewis, Jeffrey W.|title=The Business of Martyrdom: A History of Suicide Bombing|url=https://archive.org/details/businessofmartyr0000lewi|url-access=registration|year=2012|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=978-1-61251-097-2}}
* {{Cite book|last=Reuter|first=Christoph|title=My Life Is a Weapon|publisher=]|location=Princeton|year=2004|isbn=978-0-691-12615-9|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/mylifeisweaponmo00reut}}
* {{Cite book|last=Scheit|first=Gerhard|title=Suicide Attack|publisher=Ca Ira Verlag|year=2004|isbn=978-3-924627-87-4|language=de}}
* {{Cite book|last=Sheftall|first=Mordecai G.|author-link=M. G. Sheftall|title=Blossoms in the Wind|publisher=NAL Caliber|location=New York|year=2005|isbn=978-0-451-21487-4|url=https://archive.org/details/blossomsinwindhu00shef}}
* {{Cite book|last=Skaine|first=Rosemarie|author-link=Rosemarie Skaine|title=Female Suicide Bombers|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson|year=2006|isbn=978-0-7864-2615-7}}
* {{Cite book|last=Swamy|first=M.R.|title=Tigers of Lanka|publisher=Vijitha Yapa Publications, Sri Lanka|year=1994|isbn=978-955-8095-14-0}}
* {{Cite book|last=Takeda|first=Arata|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RX6MdUsD8T0C|title=Ästhetik der Selbstzerstörung: Selbstmordattentäter in der abendländischen Literatur|trans-title=Aesthetics of Self-Destruction: Suicide Attackers in Western Literature|publisher=Fink|location=Munich| year=2010|isbn=978-3-7705-5062-3|language=de}} (, digitalized by the ])
* {{Cite book|last=Matovic|first=Violeta|title=Suicide Bombers Who's Next|publisher=The National Counter Terrorism Committee|location=]|year=2007|isbn=978-86-908309-2-3}}
* {{Cite book|last=Victor|first=Barbara|title=Army of Roses: Inside the World of Palestinian Women Suicide Bombers|publisher=Rodale|year=2003|isbn=978-1-57954-830-8|url=https://archive.org/details/armyofrosesinsid00vict}}
* {{Cite book|last=Rajan|first=V.G. Julie|title=Women Suicide Bombers: narratives of violence|publisher=Routledge|year=2011|location=New York|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d8CsAgAAQBAJ|isbn=978-0-415-55225-7}}
{{Refend}}

{{Refbegin|30em}}
----
;Articles
----
* {{cite journal | last1 = Atran | first1 = Scott |author1-link=Scott Atran |year = 2003 | title = Genesis of suicide terrorism | url = https://jeannicod.ccsd.cnrs.fr/ijn_00509568/file/genesis_of_Suicide_terrorism.pdf| journal = Science | volume = 299 | issue = 5612| pages = 1534–39 | doi=10.1126/science.1078854 | pmid=12624256| bibcode = 2003Sci...299.1534A | s2cid = 12114032 }}
* Butterworth, Bruce Robert; Dolev, Shalom; Jenkins, Brian Michael (2012). "", ]; accessed March 22, 2015.
* Conesa, Pierre (2004). "Aux origines des attentats-suicides". ''Le Monde diplomatique'', June 2004; accessed March 22, 2015.
* Hoffman, Bruce (2003). "The logic of suicide terrorism". ''The Atlantic'', June 2003 accessed March 22, 2015.
* Kix, Paul , boston.com, December 5, 2010; accessed March 22, 2015.
* {{cite journal | last1 = Lankford | first1 = Adam | year = 2010 | title = Do Suicide Terrorists Exhibit Clinically Suicidal Risk Factors? A Review of Initial Evidence and Call for Future Research | journal = Aggression and Violent Behavior | volume = 15 | issue = 5| pages = 334–40 | doi=10.1016/j.avb.2010.06.001}}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Takeda | first1 = Arata | year = 2010 | title = Suicide bombers in Western literature: Demythologizing a mythic discourse | journal = Contemporary Justice Review | volume = 13 | issue = 4| pages = 455–75 | doi=10.1080/10282580.2010.517985| citeseerx = 10.1.1.981.5792 | s2cid = 54018791 }}

{{Refend}}

{{Refbegin|30em}}
----
;Webpages
----
* Kassim, Sadik H. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606091254/http://btci.stanford.clockss.org/cgi/reprint/8/2/204.pdf |date=2013-06-06 }}; accessed March 22, 2015.
* ] (1996); accessed March 22, 2015. ; accessed March 22, 2015.
* Sarraj, Dr. Eyad. ; accessed March 22, 2015.
* Feffer, John. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100808202547/https://www.truthout.org/080609K |date=2010-08-08 }}, 6 August 2009; accessed March 22, 2015.
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Suicide terrorism}}
* Dataset: ]


] {{Suicide navbox}}
{{Terrorism topics}}
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Latest revision as of 01:17, 22 December 2024

Violent attack in which the attacker accepts their own death "Military suicide" redirects here. Not to be confused with Suicide in the military.
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The September 11 attacks, one of the most infamous suicide attacks.
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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. 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.

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. While only a few suicide attacks occurred between 1945 and 1980, between 1981 and September 2015, a total of 4,814 suicide attacks were carried out in over 40 countries, 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, and roughly one per day from 2003 to 2015. 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.

Suicide attacks distinguish themselves from other terror attacks due to their heightened lethality and destructiveness. 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. 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. By mid-2015, about three-quarters of all suicide attacks occurred in just three countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.

William Hutchinson (W. Hutchinson) describes suicide attacks as a weapon of psychological warfare aimed at instilling fear in the target population, 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. 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. 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.

Terminology

The usage of the term "suicide attack" has a long history, but "suicide bombing" dates back to at least 1940 when a New York Times article mentioned the term in relation to German tactics. Less than two years later, the New York Times referred to a Japanese kamikaze attempt on an American carrier as a "suicide bombing". In 1945, The Times of London referred to a kamikaze plane as a "suicide-bomb" and two years later, it referred to a new British pilot-less, radio-controlled rocket missile as originally designed "as a counter-measure to the Japanese 'suicide-bomber'".

Suicide attacks include both suicide terrorism and attacks targeting combatants. Terrorism is often defined any action "intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants" for the purpose of intimidation. An alternative definition provided by Jason Burke—a journalist who has lived among Islamic militants—suggests that most define terrorism as "the use or threat of serious violence" to advance some kind of "cause", stressing that terrorism is a tactic. Academic Fred Halliday has written that assigning the descriptor of "terrorist" or "terrorism" to the actions of a group is a tactic used by states to deny "legitimacy" and "rights to protest and rebel".

The number of suicide attacks grew enormously after 2000.

The definition of "suicide" in this context is also a matter of debate. Suicide terrorism itself has been defined by Ami Pedahzur, a professor of government, as "violent actions perpetrated by people who are aware that the odds they will return alive are close to zero". Other sources exclude from their work "suicidal" or high risk attacks, such as the Lod Airport massacre or "reckless charge in battle", focusing only on true "suicide attacks", where the odds of survival are not "close to zero" but required to be zero, because "the perpetrator's ensured death is a precondition for the success of his mission".

Also excluded from the definition are "proxy bombings", which may have political goals and be designed to look like a suicide bombing, but in which the "proxy" is forced to carry a bomb under threat (such as having their children killed), or where the proxy isn't fully aware that they are delivering a bomb that will kill them. The definition also generally excludes mass shootings in which the perpetrators commit suicide, as the shooter committing suicide is a separate act from shooting their victims. Further distinction is how many of such shootings (such as the Columbine High School massacre, the Virginia Tech shooting or Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in the U.S.) are driven by personal and psychological reasons, rather than political, social or religious motives.

It may not always be clear to investigators which type of killing is which—suicide attack campaigns sometimes use proxy bombers (as alleged in Iraq) or manipulate the vulnerable to become bombers. At least one researcher (Adam Lankford) argues that the motivation to kill and be killed connects some suicide attackers more closely to "suicidal rampage" murderers than is commonly thought.

Other terms

Islamist supporters often call a suicide attack Istishhad (often translated as "martyrdom operation") and the suicide attacker shahid (pl. shuhada, "witness" and usually translated as "martyr"), the idea being that the attacker died in order to testify his faith in God, such as while waging jihad bis saif (jihad by the sword). The term "suicide" is never used because Islam has strong strictures against taking one's own life. The terms Istishhad / "martyrdom operation" have been embraced by the Palestinian Authority as well as by Hamas, Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Fatah and other Palestinian factions.

Some efforts have been made to replace the term "suicide bombing" with "homicide bombing", on the grounds that, since the primary purpose of such a bombing is to kill other people, "homicide" is a more apt adjective than "suicide". The only major media outlets to use it were Fox News Channel and the New York Post, both of which are owned by News Corporation and have since mostly abandoned the term. Robert Goldney, a professor emeritus at the University of Adelaide, has argued in favor of the term "homicide bomber", arguing that studies show that there is little in common between people who blow themselves up intending to kill as many people as possible in the process and actual suicide victims. Fox News producer Dennis Murray argued that a suicidal act should be reserved for a person who does something to kill themselves only. CNN producer Christa Robinson argued that the term "homicide bomber" was not specific enough, stating that "A homicide bomber could refer to someone planting a bomb in a trash can."

"Genocide bombing" was coined in 2002 by Irwin Cotler, a member of the Canadian parliament, in an effort to focus attention on the alleged intention of genocide by militant Palestinians in their calls to "wipe Israel off the map". In German-speaking areas the term "sacrifice bombing" (Ger. Opferanschlag) was proposed in 2012 by German scholar Arata Takeda. The term is intended to shift the focus away from the suicide of the perpetrators and towards their use as weapons by their commanders.

History, pre-1980

The first-century AD Jewish Sicarii sect are thought to have carried out suicidal attacks against Hellenized Jews they considered immoral collaborators. The Hashishiyeen (Assassins) sect of Ismaili Shi'a Muslims assassinated two caliphs, as well as many viziers, sultans and Crusader leaders over a 300-year period before being annihilated by Mongol invaders. Hashishiyeen were known for their targeting of the powerful, their use of the dagger as a weapon (rather than something safer for the assassin such as a crossbow), and for making no attempt to escape after completing their killing.

Arnold von Winkelried became a hero in the Swiss struggle for independence when he sacrificed himself at the Battle of Sempach in 1386.

The earliest known non-military suicide attack occurred in Murchison, New Zealand, on 14 July 1905. When a long-standing dispute between two farmers resulted in a court case, the defendant (Joseph Sewell) arrived with sticks of gelignite strapped to his body. When during the court proceedings Sewell excitedly shouted "I'll blow the devil to hell, and I have enough dynamite to do just that", he was ushered out of the building. Sewell detonated the charge when a police officer tried to arrest him on the street, blowing his body to pieces. No one other than Sewell was killed by the attack.

India

In 1780, an Indian woman named Kuyili applied ghee and oil onto her body and set herself ablaze. She then jumped into an armoury of the East India Company, causing it to explode. This suicide attack helped to secure victory for her queen, Velu Nachiyar, in the battle.

Dutch

In the late 17th century, Qing official Yu Yonghe recorded that injured Dutch soldiers fighting against Koxinga's forces for control of Taiwan in 1661 would use gunpowder to blow up both themselves and their opponents rather than be taken prisoner. However, Yu may have confused such suicidal tactics with the standard Dutch military practice of undermining and blowing up overrun positions, which almost cost Koxinga his life during the Siege of Fort Zeelandia.

On 5 February 1831, during the Belgian Revolution, a gale blew a Dutch gunboat under the command of Jan van Speyk into the quay of the port of Antwerp. As the ship was stormed by Belgians, van Speyk refused to surrender, instead igniting the ship's gunpowder with either his gun or cigar, blowing up the ship. The explosion killed 28 out of the 31 crewmen and an unknown number of Belgians.

Aceh

Muslim Acehnese from the Aceh Sultanate performed suicide attacks known as Parang-sabil against Dutch invaders during the Aceh War. It was considered as part of personal jihad in the Islamic religion of the Acehnese. The Dutch called it Atjèh-moord, (literally "Aceh-murder"). The Acehnese work of literature, the Hikayat Perang Sabil provided the background and reasoning for the "Aceh-mord"—Acehnese suicide attacks upon the Dutch. The Indonesian translations of the Dutch terms are Aceh bodoh (Aceh pungo) or Aceh gila (Aceh mord).

Atjèh-moord was also used against the Japanese by the Acehnese during the Japanese occupation of Aceh. The Acehnese Ulama (Islamic Scholars) fought against both the Dutch and the Japanese, revolting against the Dutch in February 1942 and against Japan in November 1942. The revolt was led by the All-Aceh Religious Scholars' Association (PUSA). The Japanese suffered 18 dead in the uprising while they slaughtered up to 100 or over 120 Acehnese. The revolt happened in Bayu and was centred around Tjot Plieng village's religious school. During the revolt, the Japanese troops armed with mortars and machine guns were charged by sword wielding Acehnese under Teungku Abduldjalil (Tengku Abdul Djalil) in Buloh Gampong Teungah and Tjot Plieng on 10 and 13 November. In May 1945 the Acehnese rebelled again.

Moro juramentado

Main article: Juramentado

Moro Muslims who performed suicide attacks were called mag-sabil, and the suicide attacks were known as Parang-sabil. The Spanish called them juramentados. The idea of the juramentado was considered part of jihad in the Moros' Islamic religion. During an attack, a juramentado would throw himself at his targets and kill them with bladed weapons such as barongs and kris until he himself was killed. The Moros performed juramentado suicide attacks against the Spanish in the Spanish–Moro conflict of the 16th to the 19th centuries, against the Americans in the Moro Rebellion (1899–1913), and against the Japanese in World War II.

The Moro juramentados aimed their attacks specifically against their enemies, not against non-Muslims in general. They launched suicide attacks on the Japanese, Spanish, Americans and Filipinos, but did not attack the non-Muslim Chinese as the Chinese were not considered enemies of the Moro people. The Japanese responded to these suicide attacks by massacring all known family members and relatives of the attacker(s).

According to historian Stephan Dale, the Moro were not the only Muslims who carried out suicide attacks "in their fight against Western hegemony and colonial rule". In the 18th century, suicide tactics were used on the Malabar coast of southwestern India, and in Atjeh (Acheh) in Northern Sumatra as well.

Russia

The first known suicide bomber was a Russian man named Ignaty Grinevitsky. The invention of dynamite in the 1860s presented revolutionary and terrorist groups in Europe with a weapon nearly 20 times more powerful than gunpowder. However, using dynamite required overcoming the technical challenges of detonating it at the right time. One solution was to use a human trigger, which was the technique used to assassinate Tsar Alexander II of Russia in 1881. A would-be suicide-bomber killed Vyacheslav von Plehve, the Russian Minister of the Interior, in St Petersburg in 1904.

Chinese suicide squads

Further information: Martyrdom in Chinese culture
Chinese suicide bomber putting on 24 hand grenade-explosive vest prior to attack on Japanese tanks at the Battle of Taierzhuang.

During the Xinhai Revolution (the Revolution of 1911) and the Warlord Era of the Republic of China (1912–1949), "Dare to Die Corps" (traditional Chinese: 敢死隊; simplified Chinese: 敢死队; pinyin: gǎnsǐduì; Wade–Giles: Kan-ssu-tui) or "Suicide squads" were frequently used by Chinese armies. China deployed these suicide units against the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

In the Xinhai Revolution, many Chinese revolutionaries became martyrs in battle. "Dare to Die" student corps were founded for student revolutionaries wanting to fight against Qing dynasty rule. Sun Yat-sen and Huang Xing promoted the Dare to Die corps. Huang said, "We must die, so let us die bravely." Suicide squads were formed by Chinese students going into battle, knowing that they would be killed fighting against overwhelming odds.

The 72 Martyrs of Huanghuagang died in the uprising that began the Wuchang Uprising, and were recognized as heroes and martyrs by the Kuomintang party and the Republic of China. The martyrs in the Dare to Die Corps who died in battle wrote letters to family members before heading off to certain death. The Huanghuakang was built as a monument to the 72 martyrs. The deaths of the revolutionaries helped the establishment of the Republic of China, overthrowing the Qing dynasty imperial system. Other Dare to Die student corps in the Xinhai revolution were led by students who later became major military leaders in Republic of China, like Chiang Kai-shek, and Huang Shaoxiong with the Muslim Bai Chongxi against Qing dynasty forces. "Dare to Die" troops were used by warlords. The Kuomintang used one to put down an insurrection in Canton. Many women joined them in addition to men to achieve martyrdom against China's opponents. They were known as 烈士 "Lit-she" (Martyrs) after accomplishing their mission.

During the January 28 Incident, a Dare to Die squad struck against the Japanese.

Suicide bombing was also used against the Japanese. A "dare to die corps" was effectively used against Japanese units at the Battle of Taierzhuang. They used swords and wore suicide vests made out of grenades.

A Chinese soldier detonated a grenade vest and killed 20 Japanese soldiers at Sihang Warehouse. Chinese troops strapped explosives such as grenade packs or dynamite to their bodies and threw themselves under Japanese tanks to blow them up. This tactic was used during the Battle of Shanghai, to stop a Japanese tank column when an attacker exploded himself beneath the lead tank, and at the Battle of Taierzhuang where Chinese troops with dynamite and grenades strapped to themselves rushed Japanese tanks and blew themselves up, in one incident obliterating four Japanese tanks with grenade bundles.

During the 1946–1950 Communist Revolution, coolies fighting the Communists formed "Dare to Die Corps" to fight for their organizations, with their lives. During the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, protesting students also formed "Dare to Die Corps", to risk their lives defending the protest leaders.

Japanese kamikaze

Main articles: Japanese Special Attack Units, Kamikaze, Kaiten, Banzai charge, Fukuryu, Ohka, Lunge mine, and Shinyo (suicide motorboat)
A Japanese Mitsubishi Zero's suicide attack on the USS Missouri (BB-63), April 11, 1945.

Kamikaze, a ritual act of self-sacrifice carried out by Japanese pilots of explosive-laden aircraft against Allied warships, occurred on a large scale at the end of World War II. About 3000 attacks were made and about 50 ships were sunk.

Kamikaze pilot about to miss crash diving into escort carrier USS White Plains (CVE-66).

Later in the war, as Japan became more desperate, this act became formalized and ritualized, as planes were outfitted with explosives specific to the task of a suicide mission. Kamikaze strikes were a weapon of asymmetric war used by the Empire of Japan against United States Navy and Royal Navy aircraft carriers, although the armoured flight deck of the Royal Navy carriers diminished Kamikaze effectiveness. Along with fitting existing aircraft with bombs, the Japanese also developed the Ohka, a purpose-built suicide aircraft, air-launched from a carrying bomber and propelled to the target at high speed using rocket engines. The Japanese Navy also used piloted torpedoes called kaiten ("Heaven shaker") on suicide missions. Although sometimes called midget submarines, these were modified versions of the unmanned torpedoes of the time and are distinct from the torpedo-firing midget submarines used earlier in the war, which were designed to infiltrate shore defenses and return to a mother ship after firing their torpedoes. Although extremely hazardous, these midget submarine attacks were not technically suicide missions, as the earlier midget submarines had escape hatches. Kaitens, however, provided no means of escape.

Germans

During the Battle for Berlin the Luftwaffe flew "Self-sacrifice missions" (Selbstopfereinsätze) against Soviet bridges over the River Oder. These 'total missions' were flown by pilots of the Leonidas Squadron. From 17 to 20 April 1945, using any available aircraft, the Luftwaffe claimed the squadron had destroyed 17 bridges. However, military historian Antony Beevor believes this claim was exaggerated and only the railway bridge at Küstrin was definitely destroyed. He comments that "thirty-five pilots and aircraft was a high price to pay for such a limited and temporary success". The missions were called off when the Soviet ground forces reached the vicinity of the squadron's airbase at Jüterbog.

Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff intended to assassinate Adolf Hitler by suicide bomb in 1943, but was unable to complete the attack.

Korean War

Main article: Korean War

North Korean tanks were attacked by South Koreans with suicide tactics during the Korean War.

American tanks at Seoul were attacked by North Korean suicide squads, who used satchel charges. North Korean soldier Li Su-Bok is considered a hero for destroying an American tank with a suicide bomb.

Suez Crisis

Main article: Suez Crisis

According to Egyptian media, an Arab Christian military officer from Syria, Jules Jammal, sunk a French ship with a suicide attack during the Suez Crisis in 1956. However, none of the French ships named by the sources were harmed during the crisis.

War of Attrition

Main article: War of Attrition

On 21 March 1968, in response to persistent Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) raids against Israeli civilian targets, Israel attacked the town of Karameh, Jordan, the site of a major PLO camp. The goal of the invasion was to destroy Karameh camp and capture Yasser Arafat in reprisal for the attacks by the PLO against Israeli civilians, which culminated in an Israeli school bus hitting a mine in the Negev. This engagement marked the first known deployment of suicide bombers by Palestinian forces.

United States

On 27 December 2018, the Green Bay Press-Gazette interviewed veteran Mark Bentley, who had trained for the Special Atomic Demolition Munition program to manually place and detonate a modified version of the W54 nuclear bomb. The report stated that he and other soldiers training for the program knew this was a suicide mission because either it would be unrealistic to outrun the timer on the bomb, or that soldiers would be obligated to secure the site before the timer went off. However, in theory the timer could be set long enough to give the team a chance to escape. Bently claimed "We all knew it was a one-way mission, a suicide mission." "You set your timer, and it would click when it went off, or it went ding or I forget what, but you knew you were toast. Ding! Your toast is ready, and it's you." He also commented, "The Army is not going to set a bomb like that and run away and leave it, because they don't know if someone else would get ahold of it. They have to leave troops there to make sure it's not stolen or compromised, and that would just be collateral damage. You didn't go out with the thought that it was anything other than a one-way mission. If you're Bruce Willis, you get away, but I ain't Bruce Willis."

However, employment manuals for atomic demolition munitions specifically describe the firing party and their guard retreating from the emplacement site, at which point the device is protected through a combination of passive security measures including concealment, camouflage and the use of decoys, as well as active security measures including booby-traps, obstacles such as concertina wire and landmines, and long ranged artillery fire. Further, the SADM included a Field Wire Remote Control System (FWRCS), a device that enabled the sending of safe/arm and firing signals to the weapon via a wire for safe remote detonation of the weapon.

Post-1980 attacks

Suicide attacks by organization,
1982 to mid-2015
Group attacks people
killed
Others/unidentified attackers 2547 22877
Islamic State 424 4949
Al-Qaeda (Central) 20 3391
Taliban (Afghanistan) 665 2925
Al-Qaeda in Iraq 121 1541
Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam
82 961
Al-Shabab 64 726
Hamas 78 511
Al-Qaeda in the
Arabian Peninsula
23 354
Ansar al-Sunna
(Iraq)
28 319
Palestinian Islamic Jihad 50 225
Al-Aqsa Martyrs'
Brigades
40 107
Taliban (Pakistan) 7 92
Ansar Bait
al-Maqdis
10 84
PKK (Turkey) 10 32
Hezbollah 7 28
Suicide attacks by location,
1982 to mid-2015
Country attacks people
killed
Iraq 1938 20084
Pakistan 490 6287
Afghanistan 1059 4748
United States 4 2997
Syria 172 2058
Sri Lanka 115 1584
Nigeria 103 1347
Yemen 87 1128
Lebanon 66 1007
Somalia 91 829
Russia 86 782
Israel 113 721
Algeria 24 281
Indonesia 10 252
Egypt 21 246
Kenya 2 213
Iran 8 160
Libya 29 155
India 15 123
Turkey 29 115
United Kingdom 5 78
Palestinian Territory 59 67
All other countries 99 674

History

Modern suicide bombing has been defined as "involving explosives deliberately carried to the target either on the person or in a civilian vehicle and delivered by surprise". (Noah Feldman and many others exclude terror attacks such as the Lod Airport massacre where "the perpetrator's ensured death" was not "a precondition for the success of his mission".) The intended targets are often civilian, not just military or political.

The U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in the aftermath of August 7, 1998, Al-Qaeda suicide bombing

The Islamic Dawa Party's car bombing of the Iraqi embassy in Beirut in December 1981 and Hezbollah's bombing of the U.S. embassy in April 1983 and attack on United States Marine and French barracks in October 1983 brought suicide bombings international attention and began the modern suicide bombing era. Other parties to the civil war were quick to adopt the tactic, and by 1999 factions such as Hezbollah, the Amal Movement, the Ba'ath Party, and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party had carried out a total of roughly 50 suicide bombings. The Syrian Social Nationalist Party sent the first recorded female suicide bomber in 1985.

During the Sri Lankan Civil War, the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) adopted suicide bombing as a tactic, using bomb belts and female bombers. The LTTE carried out their first suicide attack in July 1987, and their Black Tiger unit committed 83 suicide attacks from 1987 to 2009, killing 981 people including former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the president of Sri Lanka, Ranasinghe Premadasa.

Another non-religious group involved in suicide attacks was the Kurdistan Workers' Party which began their insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984. According to the Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism's Suicide Attack Database, as of 2015, ten suicide attacks by the PKK from 1996 to 2012 killed 32 people and injured 116.

Al-Qaeda carried out its first suicide attack in the mid-1990s The attacks first appeared in Israel and the Palestinian Territories in 1989.

9/11 and after

In early 2000, one analyst (Yoram Schweitzer) saw a pause in bombing campaigns and argued that "most of the groups that were involved in suicide terrorism either stopped using it or eventually reduced it significantly."

The number of attacks using suicide tactics grew from an average of fewer than five per year during the 1980s to 81 suicide attacks in 2001 and 460 in 2005. By 2005, the tactic had spread to dozens of countries.

Scene after a Palestinian suicide bombing in 1995

Suicide bombing became a popular tactic among Palestinian terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, and occasionally by the PFLP. The first suicide bombing in Israel was by Hamas in 1994. Attacks peaked from 2001 to 2003 with over 40 bombings and over 200 killed in 2002. Bombers affiliated with these groups often use so-called "suicide belts", explosive devices (often including shrapnel) designed to be strapped to the body under clothing. In order to maximize the loss of life, the bombers seek out enclosed spaces, such as cafés or city buses crowded with people at rush hour. Less common are military targets (for example, soldiers waiting for transport at roadside). These bombings have tended to have more popular support than in other Muslim countries, and more music videos and announcements that promise eternal reward for suicide bombers can be found on Palestinian television (according to Palestinian Media Watch). Israeli sources observed that Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah operate "Paradise Camps", training children as young as 11 to become suicide bombers. In 2004, due to increased effectiveness in Israel's security measures and stricter checkpoint protocols, terrorist organizations began employing women and children more frequently as operatives, assuming that they would raise fewer suspicions and undergo less rigorous inspections.

The September 11, 2001 attacks, orchestrated by al-Qaeda, has been called "the worst attack on American soil since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which thrust the United States into World War II". They involved the hijacking of four large passenger jet airliners. Unlike earlier airline hijackings, the primary focus was the planes, not the passengers because their long transcontinental flight plans meant they carried more fuel, allowing a bigger explosion on impact. Two planes were deliberately flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, destroying both 110-story skyscrapers within less than two hours. A third plane was flown into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, causing severe damage to the west side of the building. These attacks resulted in the deaths of 221 people (including the 15 hijackers) on board the three planes as well as 2,731 more in and around the targeted buildings. A fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after a revolt by the plane's passengers, killing all 44 people (including the four hijackers) on board. In total, the attacks killed 2,996 people and injured more than 6,000 others. The U.S. stock market closed for four trading days after the attacks (the first time it had an unscheduled closing since the Great Depression). Nine days after the attack, U.S. President George W. Bush called for a "War on Terror" and shortly thereafter launched the War in Afghanistan to find and capture Osama bin Laden, the head of the al-Qaeda organization that mounted the 9/11 attacks.

The result of a car bombing in Iraq

After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iraqi and foreign insurgents carried out waves of suicide bombings. More attacks have been carried out in Iraq (1,938 as of mid-2015) than in any other country.

In addition to United States military targets, they attacked many civilian targets such as Shiite mosques, international offices of the UN, and the Red Cross. Iraqi men waiting to apply for jobs with the new army and police force were targets. In the lead up to the Iraqi parliamentary election, on January 30, 2005, suicide attacks upon civilian and police personnel involved with the elections increased. There were also reports of the insurgents co-opting disabled people as involuntary suicide bombers.

Other major locations of suicide attack are Afghanistan (1,059 attacks as of mid-2015) and Pakistan (490 attacks). In the first eight months of 2008, Pakistan overtook Iraq and Afghanistan in suicide bombings, with 28 bombings killing 471 people. Suicide bombings have become a tactic in Chechnya, first being used in the conflict in 2000 in Alkhan Kala, and spreading to Russia, notably with the Moscow theater hostage crisis in 2002 to the Beslan school hostage crisis in 2004.

In Europe four Islamist suicide bombers exploded home-made peroxide explosives on three London underground trains and a bus on 7 July 2005, during the morning rush hour. These "7/7" bombings killed 52 civilians and injured 700.

Since 2006, al-Shabaab has carried out major suicide attacks in Somalia, the worst year so far being 2016 with 28 attacks, or more than two per month

On 22 May 2017, the Manchester Arena bombing occurred which resulted in 23 deaths and 1,017 injuries. The attack was carried out as people were leaving the Ariana Grande concert.

On 25 December 2020, a suicide bombing occurred in Nashville, Tennessee, US.

Strategy and advantages

According to author Jeffrey William Lewis, to succeed, campaigns of suicide bombing need: willing individuals, organizations to train and use them, and a society willing to accept such acts in the name of a greater good. The organizations work to guarantee individual suicide bombers that they "will be remembered as martyrs dying for their communities". By imbuing suicide bombing/attacks with "reverence and heroism", it becomes more attractive to recruits. According to Yoram Schweitzer, modern suicide terrorism is "aimed at causing devastating physical damage, through which it inflicts profound fear and anxiety". Its goal is not to produce a negative psychological effect only on the victims of the actual attack, but on the entire target population. Attackers themselves have often framed suicide attacks as acts of courageous self-sacrifice made necessary by the superior military or security strength of the enemy. The technique has also been called "the atomic weapon of the weak". According to Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the former leader of Hamas, "Once we have warplanes and missiles, then we can think of changing our means of legitimate self-defense. But right now, we can only tackle the fire with our bare hands and sacrifice ourselves." While this arguably explains the motivation of many early suicide bombings in the 1980s and 90s, it cannot explain many later attacks, such as those on funeral processions of the minority Shia in Pakistan.

A major reason for the popularity of suicide attacks despite the sacrifice involved for its perpetrators is its tactical advantages over other types of terrorism, such as the ability to conceal weapons, make last-minute adjustments, increased ability to infiltrate heavily guarded targets, lack of need for remote or delayed detonation, escape plans or rescue teams. Robert Pape observes: "Suicide attacks are an especially convincing way to signal the likelihood of more pain to come, because if you are willing to kill yourself you are also willing to endure brutal retaliation. "... The element of suicide itself helps increase the credibility of future attacks because it suggests that attackers cannot be deterred." Other scholars have criticized Pape's research design, arguing that it cannot draw any conclusions on the efficacy of suicide terrorism.

Bruce Hoffman describes the characteristics of suicide bombing, as "universal": "Suicide bombings are inexpensive and effective. They are less complicated and compromising than other kinds of terrorist operations. They guarantee media coverage. The suicide terrorist is the ultimate smart bomb. Perhaps most important, coldly efficient bombings tear at the fabric of trust that holds societies together."

Tactics

Various groups adapt their strategies to suit specific targets. For example, in the 1980s, Hezbollah favored the use of explosive-laden cars, while the LTTE in Sri Lanka employed tactics involving explosive-laden boats. Palestinian organizations in the 1990s refined an approach involving suicide bombers with explosive belts, influencing groups like the Chechens and the PKK. In contemporary Iraq, local factions have utilized explosive-laden vehicles to target heavily guarded military facilities.

Attacker profiles and motivations

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Studies of who becomes a suicide attacker and what motivates them have often come to different conclusions. According to Riaz Hassan, "apart from one demographic attribute—that the majority of suicide bombers tend to be young males—the evidence has failed to find a stable set of demographic, psychological, socioeconomic and religious variables that can be causally linked to suicide bombers' personality or socioeconomic origins." Anthropologist Scott Atran wrote, " are not sufficiently different from everyone else. Insights into homegrown jihadi attacks will have to come from understanding group dynamics, not individual psychology. Small-group dynamics can trump individual personality to produce horrific behavior in otherwise ordinary people." Atran's research has found that the attacks are not organized from the top down, but occurs from the bottom up. That is, it is usually a matter of following one's friends, and ending up in environments that foster groupthink. Atran is also critical of the claim that terrorists simply crave destruction; they are often motivated by beliefs they hold sacred, as well as their own moral reasoning.

A study of the remains of 110 suicide bombers in Afghanistan for the first part of 2007 by Afghan pathologist Dr. Yusef Yadgari found 80% were suffering from physical ailments such as missing limbs (before the blasts), cancer, or leprosy. Also, in contrast to earlier findings of suicide bombers, the Afghan bombers were "not celebrated like their counterparts in other Arab nations. Afghan bombers are not featured on posters or in videos as martyrs."

Robert Pape, director of the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism, found the majority of suicide bombers came from the educated middle classes. (Humam Balawi, who perpetrated the Camp Chapman attack in Afghanistan in 2010, was a medical doctor.) A 2004 paper by Harvard University Professor of Public Policy Alberto Abadie "cast doubt on the widely held belief that terrorism stems from poverty, finding instead that terrorist violence (not just suicide terrorism) is "related to a nation's level of political freedom", with countries "in some intermediate range of political freedom" more prone to terrorism than countries with "high levels" of political freedom or countries with "highly authoritarian regimes". "When governments are weak, political instability is elevated, so conditions are favorable for the appearance of terrorism". A 2020 study found that while well-educated and economically well-off individuals are more likely to be behind suicide terrorism, it is not because these individuals self-select into suicide terrorism, but rather because terrorist groups are more likely to select high-quality individuals to commit suicide terrorist attacks.

Pape found that among Islamic suicide terrorists, 97 percent were unmarried and 84 percent were male (or if excluding the Kurdistan Workers' Party, 91 percent male), while a study conducted by the U.S. military in Iraq in 2008 found that suicide bombers were almost always single men without children aged 18 to 30 (with a mean age of 22), and were typically students or employed in blue-collar occupations. In a 2011 doctoral thesis, anthropologist Kyle R. Gibson reviewed three studies documenting 1,208 suicide attacks from 1981 to 2007 and found that countries with higher polygyny rates correlated with greater production of suicide terrorists. In addition to noting that countries where polygyny is widely practiced tend to have higher homicide rates and rates of rape, political scientists Valerie M. Hudson and Bradley Thayer have argued that because Islam is the only major religious tradition where polygyny is still largely condoned, the higher degrees of marital inequality in Islamic countries than most of the world causes them to have larger populations susceptible to suicide terrorism, and that promises of harems of virgins for martyrdom serves as a mechanism to mitigate in-group conflict within Islamic countries between alpha and non-alpha males by bringing esteem to the latter's families and redirecting their violence towards out-groups.

Along with his research on the Tamil Tigers, Scott Atran found that Palestinian jihadist groups (such as Hamas) provide monthly stipends, lump-sum payments, and massive prestige to the families of suicide terrorists. Citing Atran and other anthropological research showing that 99 percent of Palestinian suicide terrorists are male, that 86 percent are unmarried, and that 81 percent have at least six siblings (larger than the average Palestinian family size), cognitive scientist Steven Pinker argues in The Better Angels of Our Nature (2011) that because the families of men in the West Bank and Gaza often cannot afford bride prices and that many potential brides end up in polygynous marriages, the financial compensation of an act of suicide terrorism can buy enough brides for a man's brothers to have children to make the self-sacrifice pay off in terms of kin selection and biological fitness.

Reasons vary greatly, and are different in the case of each individual. Fanaticism (nationalist or religious, or both) may result from brain-washing, negative experiences regarding "the enemy", and the lack of a perspective in life. Suicide attackers may want to hurt or kill their targets because they hold them responsible for all bad things that have happened to them or in the world, or simply just because they want to escape misery and poverty. Based on biographies of more than seven hundred foreign fighters uncovered at an Iraqi insurgent camp, researchers believe that the motivation for suicide missions (at least in Iraq) was not "the global jihadi ideology", but "an explosive mix of desperation, pride, anger, sense of powerlessness, local tradition of resistance and religious fervor". A study by German scholar Arata Takeda analyzes analogous behavior represented in literary texts from the antiquity through the 20th century (Ajax, Samson Agonistes, The Robbers, The Just Assassins) and comes to the conclusion "that suicide bombings are not the expressions of specific cultural peculiarities or exclusively religious fanaticisms. Instead, they represent a strategic option of the desperately weak who strategically disguise themselves under the mask of apparent strength, terror, and invincibility."

Criminal justice professor Adam Lankford argues that suicide terrorists are not psychologically normal or stable, and are motivated to suicide and killing to mask their desire to die beneath a "veneer of heroic action", because of the religious consequences of killing themselves outright. He has identified more than 130 individual suicide terrorists, including 9/11 ringleader Mohamed Atta, with classic suicidal risk factors such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, other mental health problems, drug addictions, serious physical injuries or disabilities, or having suffered the unexpected death of a loved one or from other personal crises.

Nationalist resistance and religion

A 2002 Commemorative poster of Palestinian Islamic Jihad suicide bomber Ashraf Sallah Alasmar in Jenin.

To what extent attackers are motivated by religious enthusiasm, by resistance to perceived outsider oppression or some combination of the two is disputed.

According to Robert Pape, director of the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism, as of 2005, 95 percent of suicide attacks have the same specific strategic goal: to cause an occupying state to withdraw forces from a disputed territory, making nationalism, not religion, their principal motivation.

Alternately, another source found that at least in one country (Lebanon from 1983 to 1999) it was Islamists who influenced secular nationalists—their use of suicide attack spreading to the secular groups. Five Lebanese groups "espousing a non-religious nationalist ideology" followed the lead of Islamist groups in attacking by suicide, "impressed by the effectiveness of Hezbollah's attacks in precipitating the withdrawal of the 'foreigners' from Lebanon". (In Israel suicide attacks by Islamist Islamic Jihad and Hamas also preceded those of the secular PFLP and the Al-Fatah-linked Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.)

Pape found other factors associated with suicide attacks included

  • the government of the targeted country being democratic and the public opinion of the country playing a role in determining policy.
  • a difference in religion between the attackers and occupiers;
  • grassroots support for the attacks;
  • attackers disproportionately from the educated middle classes;
  • high levels of brutality and cruelty by the occupiers, and
  • competition among militant groups fighting the occupiers.

Other researchers, such as Yotam Feldner, argue that perceived religious rewards in the hereafter are instrumental in encouraging Muslims to commit suicide attacks), contend that Pape's analysis is flawed, particularly his contention that democracies are the main targets of such attacks. Other scholars have criticized Pape's research design, arguing that it cannot draw any conclusions on the causes of suicide terrorism. Atran argues that suicide bombing has moved on from the days of Pape's study, that non-Islamic groups have carried out very few bombings since 2003, while bombing by Muslim or Islamist groups associated with a "global ideology" of "martyrdom" has skyrocketed. In one year, in one Muslim country alone – 2004 in Iraq – there were 400 suicide attacks and 2,000 casualties. Other researchers ask why prominent anti-occupation secular terrorist groups—such as the Provisional IRA, ETA or anti-colonialist insurgents in Vietnam, Algeria, etc.—have not used suicide, why he does not mention that the first suicide attack in Lebanon (in 1981) targeted the embassy of Iraq, a country which was not occupying Lebanon.

Mia Bloom agrees with Pape that competition among insurgents groups is a significant motivator, arguing the growth in suicide as a tactic is a product of "outbidding", i.e. the need by competing insurgent groups to demonstrate their commitment to the cause to broader public—making the ultimate sacrifice for the insurgency being a "bid" impossible to top. (This explains its use by Palestinian groups, but not that by the Tamil Tigers.) Still other researchers have identified sociopolitical factors as more central in the motivation of suicide attackers than religion.

According to Atran and former CIA case officer Marc Sageman, support for suicide actions is triggered by moral outrage at perceived attacks against Islam and sacred values, but this is converted to action as a result of small-world factors (such as being part of a football club with other jihadis). Millions express sympathy with global jihad (according to a 2006 Gallup study involving more than 50,000 interviews in dozens of countries, seven percent or at least 90 million of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims consider the 9/11 attacks "completely justified").

Afghanistan suicide bomb attacks, including non-detonated, 2002–2008

Also arguing that the increase in suicide terrorism since 2001 is really driven by Salafi/Jihadist ideology and Al-Qaeda is Assaf Moghadam.

Updating his work in a 2010 book Cutting the Fuse, Pape reported that a fine-grained analysis of the time and location of attacks strongly support his conclusion that "foreign military occupation accounts for 98.5%—and the deployment of American combat forces for 92%—of all the 1,833 suicide terrorist attacks around the world" between 2004 and 2009 Pape wrote that "the success attributed to the surge in 2007 and 2008 was actually less the result of an increase in coalition forces and more to a change of strategy in Baghdad and the empowerment of the Sunnis in Anbar."

The same logic can be seen in Afghanistan. In 2004 and early 2005, NATO occupied the north and west, controlled by the Northern Alliance, whom NATO had previously helped fight the Taliban. An enormous spike in suicide terrorism only occurred later in 2005 as NATO moved into the south and east, which had previously been controlled by the Taliban and locals were more likely to see NATO as a foreign occupation threatening local culture and customs. Critics argue the logic cannot be seen in Pakistan. which has no occupation and the second highest number of suicide bombing fatalities as of mid-2015.

Islam

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What connection the high percentage of suicide attacks executed by Islamist groups since 1980 has to do with the religion of Islam is disputed. Specifically, scholars, researchers, and others, disagree over whether Islam forbids suicide in the process of attacking enemies or the killing of civilians. According to a report compiled by the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism, 224 of 300 suicide terror attacks from 1980 to 2003 involved Islamist groups or took place in Muslim-majority lands. Another tabulation found more than a fourfold increase in suicide bombings in the two years following Papes study and that the overwhelming majority of these bombers were motivated by the ideology of Islamist martyrdom. (For example, as of early 2008, 1121 Muslim suicide bombers have blown themselves up in Iraq.)

History

Islamic suicide bombing is a fairly recent phenomenon. It was totally absent from the 1979–1989 Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union, (an asymmetrical war where the mujahideen fought Soviet warplanes, helicopters and tanks primarily with light weapons). According to author Sadakat Kadri, "the very idea that Muslims might blow themselves up for God was unheard of before 1983, and it was not until the early 1990s that anyone anywhere had tried to justify killing innocent Muslims who were not on a battlefield." After 1983 the process was limited among Muslims to Hezbollah and other Lebanese Shi'a factions for more than a decade.

Since then, the "vocabulary of martyrdom and sacrifice", videotaped pre-confession of faith by attackers have become part of "Islamic cultural consciousness", "instantly recognizable" to Muslims (according to Noah Feldman), while the tactic has spread through the Muslim world "with astonishing speed and on a surprising course".

First the targets were American soldiers, then mostly Israelis, including women and children. From Lebanon and Israel, the technique of suicide bombing moved to Iraq, where the targets have included mosques and shrines, and the intended victims have mostly been Shiite Iraqis. ... Afghanistan, ... both the perpetrators and the targets are orthodox Sunni Muslims. Not long ago, a bombing in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province, killed Muslims, including women, who were applying to go on pilgrimage to Mecca. Overall, the trend is definitively in the direction of Muslim-on-Muslim violence. By a conservative accounting, more than three times as many Iraqis have been killed by suicide bombings in just three years (2003–6) as have Israelis in ten (from 1996–2006). Suicide bombing has become the archetype of Muslim violence – not just to Westerners but also to Muslims themselves.

Recent research on the rationale of suicide bombing has identified both religious and sociopolitical motivations. Those who cite religious factors as an important influence note that religion provides the framework because the bombers believe they are acting in the name of Islam and will be rewarded as martyrs. Since martyrdom is seen as a step towards paradise, those who commit suicide while discarding their community from a common enemy believe that they will reach an ultimate salvation after they die.

In the media attention given to suicide bombing during the Second Intifada and after 9/11, sources hostile to radical Islamism quoted radical scholars promising various heavenly rewards, such as 70 virgins (houri) as wives, to Muslims who die as martyrs, (specifically as suicide attackers). Other alleged rewards for those dying are being cleansed of all sin and brought directly to paradise, not having to wait for the Day of Judgement.

Others (such as As'ad AbuKhalil) maintain that "the tendency to dwell on the sexual motives" of the suicide bombers "belittles" the bombers "sociopolitical causes", and that the alleged "sexual frustration" of young Muslim men "has been overly emphasized in the Western and Israeli media" as a motive for terrorism.

Support for "martyrdom operations"

Islamist militant organizations (including al-Qaeda, Hamas and Islamic Jihad) argue that despite what some Muslims claim is Islam's strict prohibition of suicide and murder, suicide attacks fulfill the obligation of jihad against the "oppressor", "martyrs" will be rewarded with paradise, and have the support of (some) Muslim clerics. Clerics have supported suicide attacks largely in connection with the Palestinian issue. Prominent Sunni cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi had previously supported such attacks by Palestinians in perceived defense of their homeland as heroic and an act of resistance. Shiite Lebanese cleric Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah, the spiritual authority recognized by Hezbollah, holds similar views.

The articles maintains that Abu Huraira (a companion of the Muhammad) and Umar ibn Khattab (the second caliph of Islam), approved acts in which the Muslims knew would lead to certain death, and that the Islamic prophet Muhammad also approved of such acts (according to authors Maulana Muawiya Hussaini and Ikrimah Anwar cited numerous Hadith of Muhammad on the authority of Islamic jurist Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj). "The Sahaba who carried out the attacks almost certainly knew that they were going to be killed during their operations but they still carried them out and such acts were extolled and praised in the sharia."

Opposition and responses from Muslim scholars

Others (such as Middle East historian Bernard Lewis) disagree, noting

... a clear difference was made between throwing oneself to certain death at the hands of an overwhelmingly strong enemy, and dying by one's own hand. The first, if conducted in a properly authorized , was a passport to heaven; the second to damnation. The blurring of their previously vital distinction was the work of some twentieth-century theologians who outlined the new theory which the suicide bombers put into practice."

The difference between engaging in an act where the perpetrator plans to fight to the death but where the attack does not require their death, is important to at least one Islamist terror group—Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). While the group extols "martyrdom" and has killed many civilians, LeT believes suicide attacks where the attackers dies by their own hand (such as by pressing a detonation button), are haram (forbidden). Its "trademark" is that of perpetrators fighting "to the death" but escaping "if practical". "This distinction has been the subject of extensive discourse among radical Islamist leaders."

A number of Western and Muslim scholars of Islam have posited that suicide attacks are a clear violation of classical Islamic law and characterized such attacks against civilians as murderous and sinful.

According to Bernard Lewis, "the emergence of the now widespread terrorism practice of suicide bombing is a development of the 20th century. It has no antecedents in Islamic history, and no justification in terms of Islamic theology, law, or tradition." Islamic legal rules of armed warfare or military jihad are covered in detail in the classical texts of Islamic jurisprudence, which forbid the killing of women, children or non-combatants, and the destruction of cultivated or residential areas.

For more than a millennium, these tenets were accepted by Sunnis and Shiites; however, since the 1980s militant Islamists have challenged the traditional Islamic rules of warfare to justify suicide attacks.

A number of respected Muslim scholars have provided scholastic refutations of suicide bombings, condemning them as terrorism prohibited in Islam and leading their perpetrators to hell. In his 400+-page Fatwa on Terrorism condemning suicide attacks, Muslim Islamic scholar Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri directly disputed the rationale of Islamists, arguing among other things that the indiscriminately killing of both Muslims and non-Muslims is unlawful, and brings the Muslim ummah into disrepute, no matter how lofty the killers intentions. Tahir-ul-Qadri states terrorism "has no place in Islamic teaching, and no justification can be provided to it...good intention cannot justify a wrong and forbidden act".

The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al Shaykh, issued a fatwa on September 12, 2013, that suicide bombings are "great crimes" and bombers are "criminals who rush themselves to hell by their actions". Al Shaykh described suicide bombers as "robbed of their minds... who have been used (as tools) to destroy themselves and societies".

In view of the fast-moving dangerous developments in the Islamic world, it is very distressing to see the tendencies of permitting or underestimating the shedding of blood of Muslims and those under protection in their countries. The sectarian or ignorant utterances made by some of these people would benefit none other than the greedy, vindictive and envious people. Hence, we would like to draw attention to the seriousness of the attacks on Muslims or those who live under their protection or under a pact with them

— Al Shaykh, quoting a number of verses from the Qur'an and Hadith.

In 2005, following a series of bombings by the banned outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) Ubaidul Haq, the chief cleric of Bangladesh led a protest of ulema denouncing terrorism. He said:

Islam prohibits suicide bombings. These bombers are enemies of Islam. ...It is a duty for all Muslims to stand up against those who are killing people in the name of Islam.

In January 2006, Ayatollah al-Udhma Yousof al-Sanei, a Shia Marja (high ranking cleric), decreed a fatwa against suicide bombing, declaring it a "terrorist act". In 2005 Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti also issued a fatwa "Against The Targeting Of Civilians".

Ihsanic Intelligence, a London-based Islamic think-tank, published their two-year study into suicide bombings in the name of Islam, The Hijacked Caravan, which concluded that,

The technique of suicide bombing is anathema, antithetical and abhorrent to Sunni Islam. It is considered legally forbidden, constituting a reprehensible innovation in the Islamic tradition, morally an enormity of sin combining suicide and murder and theologically an act which has consequences of eternal damnation.

American based Islamic jurist and scholar Khaled Abou Al-Fadl argues,

The classical jurists, nearly without exception, argued that those who attack by stealth, while targeting noncombatants in order to terrorize the resident and wayfarer, are corrupters of the earth. "Resident and wayfarer" was a legal expression that meant that whether the attackers terrorize people in their urban centers or terrorize travelers, the result was the same: all such attacks constitute a corruption of the earth. The legal term given to people who act this way was muharibun (those who wage war against society), and the crime is called the crime of hiraba (waging war against society). The crime of hiraba was so serious and repugnant that, according to Islamic law, those guilty of this crime were considered enemies of humankind and were not to be given quarter or sanctuary anywhere .... Those who are familiar with the classical tradition will find the parallels between what were described as crimes of hiraba and what is often called terrorism today nothing short of remarkable. The classical jurists considered crimes such as assassinations, setting fires, or poisoning water wells – that could indiscriminately kill the innocent – as offenses of hiraba. Furthermore, hijacking methods of transportation or crucifying people in order to spread fear are also crimes of hiraba. Importantly, Islamic law strictly prohibited the taking of hostages, the mutilation of corpses, and torture.

According to theologian Charles Kimball, "There is only one verse in the Qur'an that contains a phrase related to suicide" (4:29): "O you who have believed, do not consume one another's wealth unjustly but only business by mutual consent. And do not kill yourselves. Indeed, Allah is to you ever Merciful."

Some commentators posit that "do not kill yourselves" is better translated "do not kill each other", and some translations (e.g., by M. H. Shakir) reflect that view. Mainstream Islamic groups such as the European Council for Fatwa and Research also cite the Quranic verse Al-An'am 6:151)] as prohibiting suicide: "And take not life, which Allah has made sacred, except by way of justice and law". The Hadith, including Bukhari 2:445, states: "The Prophet said, '...whoever commits suicide with a piece of iron will be punished with the same piece of iron in the Hell Fire', 'A man was inflicted with wounds and he committed suicide, and so Allah said: 'My slave has caused death on himself hurriedly, so I forbid Paradise for him.'"

Other Muslims have also noted Quranic verses in opposition to suicide, to taking of life other than by way of justice (i.e. the death penalty for murder), and to collective punishment.

The international community considers the use of indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations as illegal under international law.

Public surveys

Muslim views on suicide bombings, 2002 to 2014
YearLocation 2002 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013 2014
Answer: "often" or "sometimes" justified (%)
Palestinian
Territory
70 68 68 62 46
Lebanon 74 39 34 32 38 39 35 33 29
Egypt 28 8 13 15 20 28 25 24
Turkey 13 15 14 17 16 3 4 6 7 16 18
Jordan 43 57 29 23 25 12 20 13 12 15
Tunisia 12 5
Bangladesh 47
Malaysia 26 27 18
Indonesia 26 15 10 10 11 13 15 10 6 9
Pakistan 33 41 25 14 9 5 5 8 5 3 3
Tanzania 18 11 12 26
Nigeria 47 46 42 32 43 34 8 19
Senegal 18 15
Israel 7 20 7 16
Results of Pew Research Center survey asking Muslims the question:
"Suicide bombings can be ___ justified against civilian targets in order to defend Islam from its enemies?"
Percentage of respondents choosing "often" or "sometimes" rather than "rarely" or "never".

Muslim support for suicide bombings against civilian targets in order to defend Islam has varied over time and by country. The Pew Global Attitudes Project survey of the Muslim public found that support has declined over the years since the post-9/11 high. The highest support for suicide bombings has been reported in the occupied Palestinian territories, where in 2014, 46% of Muslims thought that such attacks were often or sometimes justified.

Gender

See also: Female suicide bomber
A female US Air Force officer playing the role of a suicide bomber during an exercise, 2011

Suicide operatives are overwhelmingly male in most groups, but among Chechen rebels and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) women form the majority of the attackers.

Female suicide bombers have been observed in many predominantly nationalist conflicts by a variety of organizations against both military and civilian targets. In February 2002, however, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the religious leader of Hamas, issued a fatwa, giving women permission to participate in suicide attacks.

During the 1980s the greatest number of female suicide attacks in any single year was five. By contrast, in 2008 alone there were 35 female suicide attacks and in 2014 there were 15 such attacks according to the Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism (CPOST) Suicide Attack Database.

  • In Lebanon on April 9, 1985, Sana'a Mehaidli, a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), detonated an explosive-laden vehicle, which killed two Israeli soldiers and injured twelve more. She is believed to have been the first female suicide bomber. She is known as "the Bride of the South". During the Lebanese Civil War, female SSNP members bombed Israeli troops and the Israeli proxy militia the South Lebanon Army.
  • Sri Lanka's militant organization, the Black Wing Tigers, executed 330 suicide bombing attacks and were all executed mainly by women. The group was formed in 1987 and was disbanded in 2009.
  • On May 21, 1991, former Indian Prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by Thenmozhi Rajaratnam, a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Approximately 30% of the organization's suicide bombings were carried out by women.
  • The Chechen shahidkas have attacked Russian troops in Chechnya and Russian civilians elsewhere; for example, in the Moscow theater hostage crisis.
  • Women of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have carried out suicide bombings primarily against Turkish Armed Forces, in some cases strapping explosives to their abdomen in order to simulate pregnancy.
  • Wafa Idris, under Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, became the first Palestinian female suicide bomber on January 28, 2002, when she blew herself up on Jaffa Road in Central Jerusalem.
  • On February 27, 2002, Darine Abu Aisha carried out a suicide bombing at the Maccabim checkpoint of the Israeli army near Jerusalem. On the same day, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the religious leader of the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas, issued a fatwa, or religious rule, that gave women permission to participate in suicide attacks, and stated that they would be rewarded in the afterlife.
  • Ayat al-Akhras, the third and youngest Palestinian female suicide bomber (at age 18), killed herself and two Israeli civilians on March 29, 2002, by detonating explosives belted to her body in a supermarket. She had been trained by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a group linked to the armed branch of Fatah (Yasser Arafat's party), more secular than Hamas. The killings gained widespread international attention due to Ayat's age and gender and the fact that one of the victims was also a teenage girl.
  • Hamas deployed its first female suicide bomber, Reem Riyashi, on January 14, 2004. Al-Riyashi attacked Erez checkpoint, killing 7 people.
  • Two female attackers attacked U.S. troops in Iraq on August 5, 2003. Whereas female suicide bombers are not typically introduced in initial stages of a conflict, this attack demonstrates the early and significant involvement of Iraqi women in the Iraq War.
  • On 29 March 2010, two female Chechen terrorists bombed two Moscow subway stations killing at least 38 people and injuring more than 60 people.
  • The Taliban has used at least one female suicide bomber in Afghanistan.
  • On December 25, 2010, the first female suicide bomber in Pakistan detonated her explosives-laden vest, killing at least 43 people at an aid distribution center in northwestern Pakistan.
  • On December 29, 2013, a female Chechen suicide bomber detonated her vest in the Volgograd railway station killing at least 17 people.
  • On December 23, 2016, the first female suicide bomber in Bangladesh detonated her explosive during a police raid.

According to a report issued by intelligence analysts in the U.S. army in 2011, "Although women make up roughly 15% of the suicide bombers within groups which utilize females, they were responsible for 65% of assassinations; 20% of women who committed a suicide attack did so with the purpose of assassinating a specific individual, compared with 4% of male attackers." The report further stated that female suicide bombers often were "grieving the loss of family members seeking revenge against those they feel are responsible for the loss, unable to produce children, dishonored through sexual indiscretion." Male suicide bombers are presented as being motivated more by political factors than female suicide bombers are.

Another study of suicide bombers from 1981 and July 2008 by Lindsey A. O'Rourke found female bombers are generally in their late twenties, significantly older than their male counterparts.

O'Rourke found the average number of victims killed by a female suicide attacker was higher than that for male attackers for every group studied (Tamil, PKK, Lebanese, Chechen, Palestinian). Consequently, terrorist organizations recruit and motivate women to participate in suicide attacks, using traditional attitudes of honor and feminine harmlessness and vulnerability among target populations to insert attackers were they can cause a maximum of death and destruction. Bombs have been disguised as a pregnant belly, avoiding invasive searches, seen as taboo. By stumbling or calling out in distress more victims may be drawn to the explosion. These women have proven to be more deadly with higher completion rates with more casualties and deaths than their male counterparts. The woman bomber carriers are not permitted to hold and control the detonator, which are still held by the men in charge. Until recently, attacks of women bombers were considered more newsworthy because of the "unladylike" behavior of their perpetrator.

Gendered motivations

Women are in some traditions customarily seen as peace-makers rather than as front-line actors in conflicts. This misconception has made them useful as suicide bombers, because they might be underestimated and thus be able to enter target areas inconspicuously, leading to more lethal suicide attacks. Whether women's motivations for becoming suicide bombers generally differ from men's remains a pertinent question. Bloom has suggested some salient reasons for women to turn to suicide bombings, such as "to avenge a personal loss, to redeem the family name, to escape a life of sheltered monotony and achieve fame, or to equalize the patriarchal societies in which they live." Some earlier literature suggested that women tend to be motivated by personal trauma rather than by ideological reasons. Other researchers disagree with this assessment and state that it reduces the political agency of women, seeing as they are just as capable of making a choice based on ideology. Women's as well as men's usual motivations for becoming suicide bombers should be assumed to be nuanced and complex.

Specific groups

Studies have attempted to learn the history and motivation of suicide attackers.

Al-Qaeda

Mohamed Atta, the ringleader of the 9/11 attacks, who crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, is the deadliest suicide attacker in history, being directly responsible for over 1,600 deaths.

Analysis of the 9/11 al-Qaeda attackers found almost all had joined the group with someone else. About 70% joined with friends, 20% with kin. Interviews with friends of the 9/11 pilots reveal they were not "recruited" into Qaeda. They were Middle Eastern Arabs isolated even among the Moroccan and Turkish Muslims who predominate in Germany. Seeking friendship, they began hanging out after services at the Masjad al-Quds and other nearby mosques in Hamburg, in local restaurants and in the dormitory of the Technical University in the suburb of Harburg. Three (Mohamed Atta, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Marwan al-Shehhi) wound up living together as they self-radicalized. They wanted to go to Chechnya, then Kosovo.

Hamas

Wreckage vehicles after a 2001 suicide bombing in Beit Lid Junction

Hamas's most sustained suicide bombing campaign in 2003–04 involved several members of Hebron's Masjad (mosque) al-Jihad soccer team. Most lived in the Wad Abu Katila neighborhood and belonged to the al-Qawasmeh hamula (clan); several were classmates in the neighborhood's local branch of the Palestinian Polytechnic College. Their ages ranged from 18 to 22. At least eight team members were dispatched to suicide shooting and bombing operations by the Hamas military leader in Hebron, Abdullah al-Qawasmeh (killed by Israeli forces in June 2003 and succeeded by his relatives Basel al-Qawasmeh, killed in September 2003, and Imad al-Qawasmeh, captured on October 13, 2004). In retaliation for the assassinations of Hamas leaders Sheikh Ahmed Yassin (March 22, 2004) and Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi (April 17, 2004), Imad al-Qawasmeh dispatched Ahmed al-Qawasmeh and Nasim al-Ja'abri for a suicide attack on two buses in Beer Sheva (August 31, 2004). In December 2004, Hamas declared a halt to suicide attacks.

On January 15, 2008, the son of Mahmoud al-Zahar, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, was killed (another son was killed in a 2003 assassination attempt on Zahar). Three days later, Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered Israel Defense Forces to seal all border crossings with Gaza, cutting off the flow of supplies to the territory in an attempt to stop rocket barrages on Israeli border towns. Nevertheless, violence from both sides only increased. On February 4, 2008, two friends (Mohammed Herbawi, Shadi Zghayer), who were members of the Masjad al-Jihad soccer team, staged a suicide bombing at commercial center in Dimona, Israel. Herbawi had previously been arrested as a 17-year-old on 15 March 2003 shortly after a suicide bombing on Haifa bus (by Mamoud al-Qawasmeh on March 5, 2003) and coordinated suicide shooting attacks on Israeli settlements by others on the team (March 7, 2003, Muhsein, Hazem al-Qawasmeh, Fadi Fahuri, Sufian Hariz) and before another set of suicide bombings by team members in Hebron and Jerusalem on May 17–18, 2003 (Fuad al-Qawasmeh, Basem Takruri, Mujahed al-Ja'abri). Although Hamas claimed responsibility for the Dimona attack, the politburo leadership in Damascus and Beirut was clearly initially unaware of who initiated and carried out the attack. It appears that Ahmad al-Ja'abri, military commander of Hamas's Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza requested the suicide attack through Ayoub Qawasmeh, Hamas's military liaison in Hebron, who knew where to look for eager young men who had self-radicalized together and had already mentally prepared themselves for martyrdom.

LTTE

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were thought to have mastered the use of suicide attacks and had a separate unit, "The Black Tigers", consisting "exclusively of cadres who have volunteered to conduct suicide operations".

Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant utilizes suicide attacks against government targets before they attack. The attackers can use a wide range of methods, from suicide vests and belts to bomb trucks and cars and APCs filled to the brim with explosives. Usually, the suicide bomber involved in a "martyrdom operation" will record his last words in a martyrdom video before they start their attack and will be released after the suicide attack was done.

A study published by The Guardian in 2017 analyzed 923 attacks done between December 2015 and November 2016 and compared the military tactic to those used by kamikaze operations. Charlie Winter, author of the study, indicated that ISIL had "industrialized the concept of martyrdom". Most (84%) of suicide attacks were directed towards military targets usually with armed vehicles. About 80% of the attackers were of Iraqi or Syrian origin.

Response and results

Response

Suicide bombings are often followed by heightened security measures and reprisals by their targets. Because a deceased suicide bomber cannot be targeted, the response is often a targeting of those believed to have sent the bomber. Because future attacks cannot be deterred by the threat of retaliation if the attackers were already willing to kill themselves, pressure is great to employ intensive surveillance of virtually any potential perpetrator, "to look for them almost everywhere, even if no evidence existed that they were there at all".

In the West Bank, the IDF has at times demolished homes that belong to families whose children (or landlords whose tenants) had volunteered for such missions, whether completed or not. Other military measures taken during the suicide attack campaign included: a widescale re-occupation of the West Bank and blockading of Palestinian towns; "targeted assassinations" of militants, (an approach used since the 1970s); raids against militants suspected of plotting attacks; mass arrests; curfews; stringent travel restrictions; and physical separation from Palestinians via the 650-km (400-mile) Israeli West Bank barrier in and around the West Bank. The Second Intifada and its suicide attacks are often dated as ending around the time of an unofficial ceasefire by some of the most powerful Palestinian militant groups in 2005. A new "knife intifada" started in September 2015, but although many Palestinians were killed in the process of stabbing or attempting to stab Israelis, their deaths were not "a precondition for the success" of their mission and so are not considered suicide attacks by many observers.

In the United States, the element of suicide in the September 11th, 2001 attacks persuaded many that previously unthinkable, "out of the box" strategic policies in a "war on terrorism"—from "preventive war" against countries not immediately attacking the US, to almost unlimited surveillance of virtually any person in the United States by the government without normal congressional and judicial oversight—was necessary. These responses "produced their own costs and risks—in lives, national debt, and America's standing in the world".

The "heightened security measures" also affected the target populations. During the bombing campaign Israelis were questioned by armed guards and given a quick pat down before being let into cafes. In the US, the post-9/11 era meant "previously inconceivable security measures—in airports and other transportation hubs, hotels and office buildings, sports stadiums and concert halls".

Results

Early Israeli construction of West Bank barrier in 2003

One of the first bombing campaigns utilizing primarily suicide attacks had considerable political success. In the early 1980s Hezbollah used these bombing attacks targeting first foreign peacekeepers and then Israel. The result in both cases was withdrawal from Lebanon by the targets.

Other groups have had mixed results. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) pioneered the use of suicide bombings against civilian and political targets and in 2000 were called (by Yoram Schweitzer) "unequivocally the most effective and brutal terrorist organization ever to utilize suicide terrorism". Their struggle for an independent state in the North and East of the island lasted for 26 years and led to the deaths of two heads of state or government, several ministers, and up to 100,000 combatants and civilians (by a UN estimate). Politically its attacks succeeded in halting the deployment of the Indian peace keeping troops to Sri Lanka and the subsequent postponement of the peace-talks in Sri Lanka. Nonetheless, it ended in May 2009 not with an independent "Eelam", but with the overrunning of LTTE strongholds and the killing of its leadership by the Sri Lankan military and security forces.

It is more difficult to determine whether Palestinian suicide bombings have proved to be a successful political tactic. Hamas "came to prominence" after the first intifada as "the main Palestinian opponent of the Oslo Accords" ("the US-sponsored peace process that oversaw the gradual and partial removal of Israel's occupation in return for Palestinian guarantees to protect Israeli security") according to the BBC. The accords were sidetracked after the election in 1996 of right wing Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Hamas's suicide bombings of Israeli targets—from 1994 to 1997 there were 14 suicide attacks killing 159, not all of which were attributed to Hamas—"were widely" credited for the popularity among Israelis of the hardline Netanyahu, who—like Hamas—was a staunch opponent of the Oslo accords, but an even stauncher enemy of Hamas.

The efficacy of suicide bombing, however, does not appear to have demonstrated by the al-Aqsa Intifada. During this Intifada, the number of suicide attacks increased markedly, but petered out around 2005 following harsh Israeli security measures (mentioned above) such as "targeted assassinations" of Palestinians reportedly involved in terrorism, and the building of a "separation barrier" that severely hampered Palestinian travel, but with no withdrawal by the Israelis from any occupied territory.

The drop in suicide bombings in Israel has been explained by the many security measures taken by the Israeli government, especially the building of the "separation barrier", and a general consensus among Palestinians that the bombings were a "losing strategy". The suicide and other attacks on civilians had "a major impact" on the attitudes of the Israeli public/voters, creating not demoralization, but even greater support for the right-wing Likud party, bringing to office another hardliner, former general, prime minister Ariel Sharon. In 2001, 89% of Israeli Jews supported the Sharon government's policy of "targeted assassinations" of Palestinian militants involved in terrorism against Israel, the number rising to 92% in 2003. Opinion polls of the Jewish Israelis found 78–84% support for the "separation barrier" in 2004.

In the case of the 9/11 attacks in the US, at least in the short term, the results were negative for Al-Qaeda, as well as the Taliban Movement. Since the attacks, Western nations have diverted massive resources towards stopping similar actions, as well as tightening up borders, and military actions against various countries believed to have been involved with terrorism. Critics of the War on Terrorism suggest the results were negative, as the proceeding actions of the United States and other countries has increased the number of recruits, and their willingness to carry out suicide bombings.

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. It is unclear which actual ship he is supposed to have sunk. One source calls the ship at issue the "liner Jean D'Arc" (source: Jules Jammal (1932 1956), the famous officer in the Syrian Navy who fought in the Suez Canal war of 1956: Syrian History and Jules Jammal: Syrian History) and another the "French warship, Jeanne D'Arc". (source: Middle East analysis by Sami Moubayed – Reflections on May 6, Mideastviews.com; accessed 15 June 2015). There was a French cruiser Jeanne d'Arc in service at that time, but it was decommissioned in 1964 rather than sunk. Some sources name the battleship Jean Bart, (source: Pierre Rondout (1961). The Changing Patterns of the Middle East (Revised ed.). Praeger. p. 161., which refers to the Jean Bart as a "cruiser")
  2. Jane's Intelligence Review lists 168 Suicide bombings in Sri Lanka carried out by the LTTE between 187 and 2009.

References

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