suicide bombers

A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout history, often as part of a military campaign (as with the Japanese ''kamikaze'' pilots of 1944–1945 during World War II), and more recently as part of terrorist campaigns (such as the September 11 attacks in 2001).

While few, if any, successful suicide attacks took place anywhere in the world from 1945 until 1980, between 1981 and September 2015 a total of 4,814 suicide attacks occurred in over 40 countries, killing over 45,000 people. During this time the global rate of such attacks grew from an average of three a year in the 1980s to about one a month in the 1990s to almost one a week from 2001 to 2003 to approximately one a day from 2003 to 2015.

Suicide attacks tend to be more deadly and destructive than other terror attacks because they give their perpetrators the ability to conceal weapons, make last-minute adjustments, and they do not require remote or delayed detonation, escape plans or rescue teams. They constituted only 4% of all terrorist attacks around the world over one period (between 1981 and 2006), but caused 32% of all terrorism-related deaths (14,599). Ninety percent of those attacks occurred in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Overall, as of mid-2015, about three-quarters of all suicide attacks occurred in just three countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.(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.)

Suicide attacks have been described (by W. Hutchinson) as a weapon of psychological warfare to instill fear in the target population, a strategy to eliminate or at least drastically diminish areas where the public feels safe and the "fabric of trust that holds societies together", as well as to demonstrate the lengths to which perpetrators will go to achieve their goals.

Suicide attackers may have various motivations. ''Kamikaze'' pilots acted under military orders, while other attacks have been perpetrated for religious or nationalist purposes. Before 2003, most attacks targeted forces occupying the attackers' homeland, according to analyst Robert Pape. Anthropologist Scott Atran states that since 2004, the ideology of Islamist martyrdom has motivated the overwhelming majority of bombers.Scott Atran, The Moral Logic and Growth of Suicide Terrorism
(pp. 131, 133); sitemaker.umich.edu; accessed July 11, 2015.

Definitions

Terrorism

Suicide attacks include both suicide terrorism—terrorism often defined as any action "intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants" for the purpose of intimidation—and suicide attacks not targeting non-combatants. An alternative definition is provided by Jason Burke, a journalist who has lived among Islamic militants, and 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'.

Suicide terrorism

The definition of "suicide" is another issue. Suicide terrorism (see Jihadism) 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 may be designed to look like suicide bombing, but where the "proxy" is forced to carry a bomb under threat (such as having their children killed); and "suicidal rampage shootings" (such as the Columbine High School massacre, the Virginia Tech shooting or Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in the U.S.) which are usually thought of as being driven by personal and psychological reasons, not political, social or religious motives.

It may not always be clear to investigators which type of killing is which. Suicide attack campaigns sometimes also using proxy bombers (as alleged in Iraq). or manipulating the vulnerable to be 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.

Usage

The usage of the term "suicide attack" goes back a long way but "suicide bombing" dates back to at least 1940 when a ''New York Times'' article mentions the term in relation to German tactics. Less than two years later that newspaper 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 an article there referred to a new British pilot-less, radio-controlled rocket missile as originally designed "as a counter-measure to the Japanese 'suicide-bomber'".

Alternative terms

Sometimes, to assign either a more positive or negative connotation to the act, suicide bombing is referred to by different terms.

''Istishhad''

Islamist supporters often call a suicide attack ''Istishhad'' (often translated as "martyrdom operation"), and the suicide attacker ''shahid'' (pl. ''shuhada'', literally 'witness' and usually translated as 'martyr'). The idea being that the attacker died in order to testify his faith in God, for example 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, and by Hamas, Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Fatah and other Palestinian factions.

Homicide bombing

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 first to use the term for a wide audience was White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer in April 2002. 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" reflects only that you have killed other people, but not that you have also killed yourself.

Genocide bombing

"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".

Sacrifice bombing

In the German-speaking area 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, and many viziers, sultans and Crusader leaders over the course of 300 years, 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 in New Zealand on 14 July 1905. A long-standing dispute between two farmers resulted in a court case, and the defendant (Joseph Sewell) had sticks of gelignite strapped to his body. When Sewell excitedly shouted during the court sitting about the other farmer "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, and his body was blown to pieces, but nobody else died from their injuries.

India

In 1780 an Indian woman named Kuyili applied ghee and oil onto her body and set herself ablaze, jumping into an armoury of the East India Company which subsequently blew up. This suicide attack helped to secure victory for her commander, Velu Nachiyar