Suicide attack
A suicide attack is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators intentionally end their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is often associated with terrorism or war. When the attackers are labelled as terrorists, the attacks are sometimes referred to as an act of suicide terrorism. Military use of suicide is not directly regulated by international law, but suicide attacks sometimes violate prohibitions against perfidy or targeting civilians. Suicide attacks have occurred in various contexts, ranging from military campaigns—such as the Japanese kamikaze pilots during World War II —to more contemporary Islamic terrorist campaigns—including the September 11 attacks in 2001.
Suicide attacks have been used by a wide range of political ideologies, from far-right to far-left.
Definition and terminology
Kamikaze
was a term initially used for Japanese suicide pilots in World War II, but is occasionally used in other contexts. Some reports at the time labelled the 1972 Lod Airport massacre in Israel by the Japanese Red Army a "Kamikaze" attack, but others have criticized the label, including the surviving attacker's interpreter. The Kamikaze were a unit of suicide bombers in for the Empire of Japan in WWII, which had a very different ideology to the JRA. Researchers from Duke University described the JRA's motives as "rooted in anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, and anti-capitalism". In more recent reports the 1972 JRA attack on Lod airport is described in modern terms such as "suicide attack" and "suicide mission", even when referring to the attacker who survived. All three militants intended to die, but one survived. He confessed and hoped to be quickly executed, but some attribute this to retrospective "survivor guilt".Suicide bombing
The term "" 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". 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'."Labelling attacks as suicide
The definition of "suicide" in this context is also a matter of debate. Suicide terrorism itself has been defined by Ami Pedahzur, a professor at the University of Haifa, 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 a "reckless charge in battle".Despite the Lod Airport massacre being explicitly planned as a suicide attack, and modern mainstream Israeli and international media describing the event as a "suicide attack" or "suicide mission".
Yoram Schweitzer, from the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, focuses 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".
The narrower definition would also exclude the actions of groups such as those by the [|Hashishiyeen], by the [|Moro juramentado], and in [|Aceh during WWII].
Adam Lankford also excludes from the definition are "proxy bombings", which may have political goals and be designed to look like a suicide bombing. The difference is that the "proxy" is forced to carry a bomb under threat, or 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 are driven by personal and psychological reasons, rather than political, social or religious motives, such as the Columbine High School massacre, the Virginia Tech shooting or Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in the United States.
However, in 1999 the Columbine High School massacre was widely labelled as a suicide attack: both attackers shot themselves, but they planned the attack as a bombing. It is also a common trope that Muslim attackers are defined as terrorists while others are defined as mentally ill.
It may not always be clear to investigators which type of killing is which as suicide attack campaigns sometimes use, as alleged in Iraq, or manipulate the vulnerable to become bombers. Adam Lankford, also argues that the motivation to kill and be killed connects some suicide attackers more closely to "suicidal rampage" murderers than is commonly thought.
for attackers and victims
All Abrahamic religions forbid suicide.Suicide and suicide attempts have been decriminalised in most of the western world, but remain criminalised in some countries, such as Afghanistan, Nigeria, Palestine, and others.
Terminology relating to this sin or crime is used by Jews, Christians, and Muslims to condemn suicide attackers, different terminology is usually used to describe self sacrifice that they believe is justified, including actions their enemies label suicide attacks.
Martyrdom of attackers and victims
Among Muslims, secular Arabs, and related cultures, the term martyr or shaheed has a broad meaning and can refer to leaders who have been assassinated or executed, civilian casualties of war, and combatants who did not intend to die.Victims of suicide bombings and the bombers are both commonly referred to as martyrs, by opposing groups, or when referring to different attacks.
Some Arabic speaking militant groups and their supporters call suicide attacks "martyrdom operations". The term "suicide" is avoided by people who think an attack was justified, because Islam forbids taking one's own life in most circumstances.
The concept of martyrdom in Islam is broad including people who died in plagues and women who died in childbirth, as well as fallen combatants who did not intend to die. According to Israeli academic Assaf Moghadam, the term "martyrdom operation" has been used by Hamas, Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and other Palestinian factions.
The term "martyrdom operation" was also used in March 2003 by the Iraqi administration to referred to suicide attacks on invading troops during the 2003 Iraq war, and in particular their promise to retake the Baghdad airport.
Victims of suicide attacks are also referred to as martyrs by a wide variety of cultures.
Benazir Bhutto, the leader of the Pakistan People's Party, is the most famous example of a progressive Muslim who is regarded as a martyr after being murdered in a suicide attack. Bhutto was assassinated in 2007 by a teenage Islamic extremist.
After her death many things in Pakistan, mostly related to education, were named or renamed in her honour, referring to her by the title "shaheed".
When an ISIS-inspired suicide bomber blew himself up at Rafah crossing in 2017, he was described by locals and in Arabic package media as a suicide bomber, not a martyr. The border guard who was killed attempting to stop him crossing into Egypt, a member of Hamas' Qassam Brigades, was described in official statements and Arabic language media as a martyr and he became a martyr., some international media, and the bomber's family. His family condemned him, describing ISIS member's action as completely criminal and anti-Palestine, and announced they would not be holding funeral services for the ISIS suicide-bomber. Gaza's clans referred to the bombing as suicide terrorism.
The bomber was also posthumously disowned by family, who announced they would be holding no funeral.
Biblical references
In Israel, Samson's words, in Judges 16:30., are quoted as a justification for acts of self sacrifice in battle. The same biblical quote is cited in both praise and criticism of this approach to warfare. Prior to the establishment of the State of Israel, this story was cited by two of the anti-British pre-state militant groups in reference to their [|premeditated plans]. One leader claimed that two militants who blew themselves up had not committed suicide, as such, due to allegedly mitigating circumstances. Their modern critics claim the situation itself was largely self-inflicted.Some within Israel view the Samson in a very negative light.
People from Christian backgrounds, or people who live within majority-Christian communities, have carried out suicide attacks in Eastern Europe, Lebanon, the United States, [|New Zealand], and elsewhere. They have usually not used religious language to explain or justify their actions. Most have been members or supporters of secular movements, or they have perpetrated [|isolated attacks] and they did not give lengthy reasons as to why they perpetrated the attacks.
However, in 1959 in Houston, Texas, Paul Harold Orgeron reportedly mentioned “the will of God” before detonating a suitcase bomb that killed himself and 5 other people at Poe Elementary School.
Non-Abrahamic religions
– who killed herself in a suicide attack in 1780, [|see below] – is revered as Theepaanchi Amman, meaning "the goddess who jumped into fire", in Muthupatti village near Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu, based on local oral traditions.Opferanschlag (sacrifice bombing)
In German-speaking areas the term "sacrifice bombing" was proposed in 2012 by German scholar.This is different from the German word used by Nazi Germany to refer to self sacrifice attacks.
Labelling attacks as terrorism
Suicide attacks include both "suicide terrorism" and attacks targeting combatants. "Terrorism" is often defined as any action "intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants" for the purpose of intimidation. This definition is often not used consistently; even those claiming to define terrorism this way sometimes describe attacks on their own military as "terrorism", while attacks on civilians by allied state actors are almost never called terrorism.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.
This definition is often referred to by the euphemism "political violence".
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".
Israeli diplomacy has been very influential in defining terrorism as a concept.
This was largely led by Menachem Begin, who himself has been labelled as a terrorist leader, as commander of the Irgun militant group before Israel was recognized as a nation state by Western powers.