All about Suicidal Bombing

INTRODUCTION

Suicide Attack

Suicide attack is an attack in which an attacker (attacker being either an individual or a group) intends to kill others and knows he or she will most likely die (see suicide). In a suicide attack in the strict sense the attacker dies by the attack itself, for example in an explosion or crash caused by the attacker. The term is sometimes loosely applied to an incident in which the intention of the attacker is not clear though he is almost sure to die by the defense or retaliation of the attacked party.

Suicide attacks are often carried out with the help of vehicles or explosive materials such as a bomb (a suicide bombing), or both (i.e. a vehicle loaded with explosives). In the book, Dead for Good: Martyrdom and the Rise of the Suicide Bomber (Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2007), Hugh Barlow describes a new development in the long history of martyrdom, describing them as predatory martyrdom. Some individuals who now act alone are inspired by emails, radical books, the internet, various new electronic media, and a general public tolerance of extreme teachers and leaders with terrorist agendas.

Suicide attacks are a kind of tactic, planned and organized by extremely committed military or paramilitary groups. According to Robert Pape, director of the Chicago Project on suicide terrorism and expert on suicide bombers, ninety-five percent of such attacks in recent times have the same specific strategic goal: to cause an occupying state to withdraw forces from a disputed territory. Pape notes that in recent decades suicide attacks as a political tactic are used against democratic countries in which public opinion plays a role in determining policy. Other researchers have argued that Pape's analysis of the data is fundamentally flawed, however, particularly his contention that democracies are the main targets of such attacks. (Pape, 2005)

As a military tactic aimed at causing material damage in war, suicide attacks became widely known during the Second World War in the Pacific as Allied ships were attacked by Japanese kamikaze pilots who caused maximum damage by flying their explosive-laden aircraft into military targets, not focused on civilian targets. Since the 1980s, the apparent low cost and high lethality of the tactic perhaps explains its increased use by guerrilla and insurgent groups -- termed "terrorist groups" against the targeted governments.

Overview

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 Samson's suicidal destruction of a Philistine temple (as recounted in the Book of Judges) to the legendary Swiss hero Arnold von Winkelried to the Japanese kamikaze pilots of World War II. The first modern suicide bombing—involving explosives deliberately carried to the target either on the person or in a civilian vehicle and delivered by surprise—was in 1981; perfected by the factions of the Lebanese Civil War and especially by the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, the tactic had spread to dozens of countries by 2005 . Those hardest-hit are Sri Lanka during its prolonged ethnic conflict, Lebanon during its civil war, Israel and the Palestinian Territories since 1994 , and Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003.

Overview of suicide bombing and criticism

Military historians classify suicide bombing as a form of armed violence, belonging to the tactics of asymmetric warfare—suicide bombings are only common when one side in a violent conflict lacks the means for effective, conventional attacks. The cost-benefit analysis, expressed here by al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, is simple: "The method of martyrdom operation [is] the most successful way of inflicting damage against the opponent and the least costly to the mujahidin in terms of casualties". (Pape, 2005) 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 civilian, in which case it is usually considered terrorism. Civilians are the favored targets, being easier to attack than fortified installations, armored vehicles, or armed and wary soldiers. The political message of the suicide bomber's action 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 moral legitimacy, and often erodes the broader credibility, of the bomber's cause (although in some of the perpetrating group's base population, it may be thought to enhance those qualities).

The bombers themselves are predominantly male. Female bombers make up a minority of such attackers, and are most common among the Tamil Tigers, Chechen rebels, Palestinian militants and the Kurdistan Workers Party. Aside from these groups, suicide operatives are still overwhelmingly male. (Pape, 2005) They are often from middle-class backgrounds in countries with little political freedom. They are usually well-educated and hold strong political or religious beliefs; they are generally not poverty-stricken or mentally ill, though some may have had difficult childhoods.[citation needed] The ritualistic communion of the extremist groups to which they belong ("lone wolf" suicide bombers are rare), in addition to their strongly-held beliefs, helps motivate their decision to commit suicide; for the religious, e.g. Hamas, the rewards of an afterlife may provide additional impetus.

Responses and reactions to the suicide bombing are mixed, so that a full assessment of the action's impact—especially whether it helped or hindered the cause in whose name it was carried out—is difficult. The public response of politicians is usually one of determination and condemnation. Military and law enforcement are mobilized to disrupt or destroy the organization which planned the attack. The root cause of the violence is often obfuscated by the occupying power in order to avoid discussion of the military occupation that evokes the violent countermeasures. Often the bomber is portrayed as irrational and motivated by blind hatred.

Those who support the bomber's cause will often hold him up as a hero; for example, the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, publish celebratory books containing the photos of those they regard as heroic freedom fighters; militant Islamist groups like Al Qaeda, for example, make use of religious language to lionize suicide bombers, calling the bomber Shahid, or 'martyr'.

The term dates back to the 1940s, when it was used in reference to certain German and Japanese battle tactics, but did not gain its present meaning until 1981. Various alternate terms have been used to frame the act differently: the muslim use of shahid for the bomber or martyrdom operation for the bombing emphasizes the self-sacrificial aspects, while the term "homicide bombing" emphasizes the fact that the bomber kills others.

Some Muslims like the Egyptian cleric, Sayed Tantawi, view this tactic as an 'illegal' action. In Islamic states like Indonesia, Pakistan, and Malaysia, some parties view suicide attacks as an extremist action.

Tactics

In the case of using explosives, a suicide attack does not require remote or delayed detonation. In the case of causing a crash, it allows human guidance of the weapon (carrying it, driving a car or boat, flying a plane, etc.) without the need for remote or automatic control as in a guided missile. Also, obviously, the attack plan does not require a plan on escaping to safety from the enemy after the attack.

Examples:

Suicide attack on foot: explosive belt
Attempted suicide attack with a plane as target: Richard Reid on American Airlines Flight 63
Suicide car bomb: 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, Sri Lankan Central Bank bombing, numerous incidents in Iraq since 2003
Suicide attack by a boat with explosives: USS Cole bombing, attacks in Sri Lanka by the LTTE Sea Tigers.
Suicide attack by a submarine with explosives (human-steered torpedo): Kaiten, used by Japan in World War II
Suicide attack by a plane with explosives: kamikaze
Suicide attack by a hijacked plane with fuel: September 11, 2001 attacks, possibly Air France Flight 8969 and attempted by Samuel Byck
Suicide attack by diverting a bus to an abyss: Tel Aviv Jerusalem bus 405 massacre
Suicide attack with guns: Kashmiri insurgents on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 killing 15 people.

In some cases a nuclear attack on a nuclear power may be considered a suicide attack in the wider sense, with the attacking country being sure or almost sure of going to suffer many fatalities in a retaliation. See also mutually assured destruction.

Suicide attacks usually (but not always) target poorly-guarded, non-military facilities and personnel. It can be either a military tactic, a political one, or a mixture of the two. It may qualify as terrorism 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.

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).[citation needed] However, it may backfire, as suicide attacks ignite rage and hatred and undermine the belief in the humanity of those who perpetrate them.

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. However, use against civilian targets has differing effects on their goals. Some economists suggest that this tactic goes beyond symbolism and is actually a response to commodified, controlled, or devalued lives, as the suicide attackers apparently consider family prestige and financial compensation from the community as compensation for their own lives. Whether such motivation is significant as compared to political or religious feeling remains unclear.

The doctrine 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 convenient tactic to demoralize the targeted civilians or government leadership of their enemies. Suicide bombing may also take place as a perceived 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 irregular fighting forces. Among many such groups, there are religious overtones to martyrdom: attackers and their supporters may believe that their sacrifice will be rewarded in an afterlife. 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.

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 poor, neglected segment of society. Both President George W. Bush and the Dalai Lama have made this claim. However, anthropologist Scott Atran found in a 2003 study that this is not a justifiable conclusion. A recently published paper by Harvard University Professor of Public Policy Alberto Abadie "cast[s] 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".(Harvard, 2004)

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. (Pape, 2005) 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.

Some suicide bombers are educated, with college or university experience, and come from middle class homes. Most suicide bombers do not show signs of psychopathology. 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.

Rationality

Much of the discourse that frames or responds to suicide bombing addresses or attempts to uncover the rationality of the action itself. Generally, the suicide bomber is understood as irrational —driven beyond the boundaries of rational thought by environmental, religious, political, and/or social factors —ergo capable of setting aside the "common sense" of self-preservation. The Pentagon released a study tasked with pinpointing motivation:

"His actions provide a win-win scenario for himself, his family, his faith and his God," The document explains. "The bomber secures salvation and the pleasures of Paradise. He earns a degree of financial security and a place for his family in Paradise. He defends his faith and takes his place in a long line of martyrs to be memorialized as a valorous fighter. And finally, because of the manner of his death, he is assured that he will find favor with Allah," the briefing adds. "Against these considerations, the selfless sacrifice by the individual Muslim to destroy Islam's enemies becomes a suitable, feasible and acceptable course of action."

Recent published research on the rationale of suicide bombing as an effective technique to kill enemies has highlighted the importance of motivation as a driving force. (Pape, 2005) While some scholars uncover the interplay of such conduct with political and socio-economic factors (Pape, 2005) others agree that religion is a driving force to encourage suicide bombers.This mainstream puts forward that religion provides the framework for suicide bombing precisely because acting in the name of Islam is regarded as a form of martyrdom.Since "martyrdom"is widely seen as a step towards Heaven, those who commit suicide whilst discarding their community from a common enemy believe that they will reach an ultimate salvation after they die(Sageman, 2004).

The briefing – produced by a little-known Pentagon intelligence unit called the Counterintelligence Field Activity, or CIFA – cites a number of passages from the Quran dealing with jihad, or "holy" warfare, martyrdom and Paradise, where "beautiful mansions" and "maidens" await martyr heroes. In preparation for attacks, suicide terrorists typically recited passages from the Quran.

Various scholars and analysts, however, dispute the claim that Muslim suicide bombers are driven by religion.

Professor Robert A. Pape of the University of Chicago writes:

"Beneath the religious rhetoric with which [such terror] is perpetrated, it occurs largely in the service of secular aims. Suicide terrorism is mainly a response to foreign occupation rather than a product of Islamic fundamentalism."

His research suggests that foreign occupation is the principal factor motivating suicide attackers.

"Though it speaks of Americans as infidels, al-Qaida is less concerned with converting us to Islam than removing us from Arab and Muslim lands," Pape says.

From 1980 to early 2004, 95% of suicide attacks had the central objective of compelling a democratic state with military forces on territory that the terrorists prize to take those forces out.

Pape also argues that although terrorist leaders may harbour other goals. According to Pape, history shows that the presence of foreign combat forces is the principal recruiting tool used by terrorist leaders to mobilise suicide terrorists to kill others. (Jackson, 2007)

History Background

Often acts of terrorism, such as the suicide bombing of civilians, are compared to the self-sacrifice of soldiers in wartime. The principal 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.

The concept of self-sacrifice has long been a part of war. However, many instances of suicide bombing today has intended civilian targets, not military targets alone. So there are some principal differences between the ideas of the past and the present. From the earliest days of honouring fallen soldiers as heroes, those who sacrifice themselves to further a political, moral, or cultural ideology 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 courage in battle, while those who survive combat are honoured for their physical and psychological sacrifice. An example of such self-sacrifice in warfare in medieval legend is Arnold von Winkelried. The earliest reference of a suicide attack outside a context of warfare has been suggested to be the Biblical story of the Amorites attacking the Jews:

The Amorite who dwell on that mountain went out against you and pursued you as the bees would do; they struck you in Seir until Hormah. (Deuteronomy 1:44)

The French 11th century rabbi Rashi suggested this to mean that the Amorites attacked like bees do, i.e. stinging and then dying, not that they attacked in swarms. Modern Bible scholarship has however abandoned his interpretation, as seen for instance in the Swedish translation of 2000.

A more obvious example is the story of Samson who died together with his victims as he collapsed a Philistine temple:

"Samson said, 'Let me die with the Philistines!' Down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more as he died than while he lived." (Judges 16:30).

A modern example of suicide bombing occurred during the Belgian Revolution, when the Dutch Lieutenant Jan van Speijk detonated his own ship in the harbour of Antwerp to prevent being captured by the Belgians.

Another example was the Prussian soldier Karl Klinke on 18 April 1864 at the Battle of Dybbøl, when he blew a hole in a Danish fortification.

The act of deliberately destroying oneself to inflict harm on an enemy, especially civilians, 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 "martyrs" (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—often averaging only two or three months. Modern suicide bombing as a political tool can be traced back to the assassination of Czar Alexander II of Russia in 1881. Alexander fell victim to a Nihilist plot. While driving on one of the central streets of Saint Petersburg, near the Winter Palace, he was mortally wounded by the explosion of hand-made grenades and died a few hours afterwards. The Tzar was killed by the Pole Ignacy Hryniewiecki, who died while intentionally exploding the bomb during the attack.

The ritual act of self-sacrifice during combat appeared in a large scale at the end of World War II with the Japanese kamikaze 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 Empire of Japan chiefly against United States Navy aircraft carriers.

The Japanese Navy also used both one and two man piloted torpedoes called kaiten 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 defences and return to a mother ship 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.

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 seppuku, honourable suicide, was part of samurai duty. It was also fostered and indoctrinated by the Imperial program to persuade the Japanese soldiers to commit these acts.

During the Battle for Berlin the Luftwaffe flew "Self-sacrifice missions" (Selbstopfereinsatz) against Soviet bridges over the River Oder. These 'total missions' were flown by pilots of the Leonidas Squadron under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Heiner Lange. From 17 April until 20 April 1945, using any aircraft that were available, the Luftwaffe claimed that the squadron destroyed 17 bridges, however the military historian Antony Beevor when writing about the incident thinks that this was exaggerated and that 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. (The Shuhada Cult of Martyrdom in Islamic Jihad)

Following World War II, Viet Minh "death volunteers" fought against the French colonial army by using a long stick-like explosive to detonate French tanks, as part of their urban warfare tactics.

In 1972 in the hall of the Lod airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, three Japanese used grenades and automatic rifles to kill 26 people and wound more than a hundred.[citation needed] The group belonged to the Japanese Red Army (JRA) a terrorist organization created in 1969 and allied to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Until then, no group involved in terrorism had conducted such a suicide operation in Israel. Members of the JRA became instructors in martial art and kamikaze operations at several Hezbollah training camps bringing the suicide techniques to the Middle East.

1980 to present

Lebanon, during its civil war, saw a modern suicide bombing: the Islamic Dawa Party's car bombing of the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, in December 1981 . 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. 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 around 50 suicide bombings between them. (The latter of these groups sent the first female suicide bomber in 1985. 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, bombing the Israeli embassy (and possibly the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association building) in Buenos Aires; as its military and political power have grown, it has since abandoned the tactic.

Lebanon saw the first bombing, but it was the LTTE Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka who perfected the tactic and inspired its use elsewhere (Pape, 2004). Their Black Tiger unit has committed between 76 and 168 (estimates vary) suicide bombings since 1987 , the higher estimates putting them behind more than half of the world's suicide bombings between 1980 and 2000 (Pape, 2005). The list of victims include former Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and the president of Sri Lanka, Ranasinghe Premadasa.

Suicide bombing has, since 1993, been a particularly popular tactic amongst some Palestinian groups, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. 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 may seek out cafés or city buses crowded with people at rush hour, 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.

Palestinian television has aired a number of music videos and announcements that promote eternal reward for children who seek "shahada"(72 Black Eyed Virgin), which Palestinian Media Watch has claimed is "Islamic motivation of suicide terrorists". (Pape, 2005) The Chicago Tribune has documented the concern of Palestinian parents that their children are encouraged to take part in suicide operations.( Barlow, 2007) Israeli sources have also alleged that Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah operate "Paradise Camps," training children as young as 11 to become suicide bombers.(Pape, 2005)

The September 11, 2001 attacks involved the hijacking of large passenger jets which were deliberately flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon, 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, al-Qaeda, the militant Islamist 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.

In December 22, 2001, Richard Reid attempted to destroy the American Airlines Flight 63 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 fuse.

After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iraqi and foreign insurgents carried out waves of suicide bombings. They attacked United States military targets, although many civilian targets (eg. 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 also attacked. In the lead up to the Iraqi parliamentary election, on January 30, 2005, suicide attacks upon civilian and security personnel involved with the elections increased, and there were reports of the insurgents co-opting disabled people as involuntary suicide bombers. (Barlow, 2007) Professor Pape suggests that the bombings of Iraqis by Iraqis target those believed to be in the service of the American occupation.

Suicide bombings have occurred in more than 30 countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, China, Colombia, Croatia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, the Palestinian territories, Panama, the Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, and Yemen. (Suicide planes were also used in the United States).

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 economic business.

Suicide bombings are sometimes followed by reprisals. As a "successful" suicide bomber cannot be targeted, the response is often a targeting of those believed to have sent the bomber. In targeting such organizations, Israel often uses military strikes against organizations, individuals, and possibly infrastructure. In the West Bank the IDF formerly demolished homes that belong to families whose children (or renters whose tenants) had volunteered for such missions (whether successfully or not) (Al-Tirmidhi) though an internal review starting in October 2004 brought an end the policy. (Al-Tirmidhi) The effectiveness of suicide bombings—notably those of the Japanese kamikazes, the Palestinian bombers, and even the September 11, 2001 attacks—is debatable. Although kamikaze attacks could not stop the Allied advance the Pacific, they inflicted more casualties and delayed the fall of Japan for longer than might have been the case using only the conventional methods available to the Japanese Empire. 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 World War II Allies to destroy the Imperial force, and may have had a significant effect in the decision to use atomic bombs against Japan.

In the case of the September 11 attacks, the long-term effects remain to be seen, but in the short term, the results were negative for Al-Qaeda, as well as the Taliban Movement. Furthermore, since the September 11 attacks, Western nations have diverted massive resources towards stopping similar actions, as well as tightening up borders, and military actions against various countries that the U.S. and its allies believe to have been involved with terrorism. However, critics of the War on Terrorism suggest that in fact the results were profoundly 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.

It is more difficult to determine whether Palestinian suicide bombings have proved to be a successful tactic. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the suicide bombers were repeatedly deployed since the Oslo Accords. In 1996 , the Israelis elected the conservative candidate Benjamin Netanyahu who promised to restore safety by conditioning every step in the peace process on Israel's assessment of the Palestinian Authority's fulfillment of its obligations in curbing violence as outlined in the Oslo agreements.

In the course of al-Aqsa Intifada which followed the collapse of the Camp David II summit between the PLO and Israel, the number of suicide attacks drastically increased. In response, Israel mobilized its army in order to seal off the Gaza Strip and reinstate military control of the West Bank, patrolling the area with tanks. The Israelis also began a campaign of targeted assassinations to kill militant Palestinian leaders, using jets and helicopters to deploy high-precision bombs and missiles.

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 general, prime minister Ariel Sharon. 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 Separation barrier under construction seem to be part of the Israeli government's efforts to stop suicide bombers from entering Israel proper.

Social support by some for this activity remained, however, as of the calling of a truce at the end of June 2003. 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.

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.

Israeli ultra-right politician and author Obadiah Shoher declared terrorism proper and efficient military tactics, and called for the Jews to answer in kind. Shoher praised Baruch Goldstein who massacred Palestinian worshippers inside a mosque.

Often extremists assert that, because they are outclassed militarily, suicide bombings are necessary. For example, the former leader of Hamas Sheikh Ahmad Yassin 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."(Bodi, 2001)

Such views are challenged both from the outside and from within Islam. According to Islamic jurist and scholar Khaled Abou Al-Fadl,

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.

to be continued

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The Islamic View

The vast majority of mainstream Islamic judicial opinion rejects suicide for any reason. (Dubai TV, 2004)

According to Professor Charles A. Kimball, chair of the Department of Religion at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, "There is only one verse in the Qur'an that contains a phrase related to suicide", Verse 4:29 of the Qur'an. (Egyptian TV, 2004) 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. Some commentators believe that the phrase "do not kill yourselves" is better translated "do not kill each other", and some translations (e.g. Shakir) reflect that view. (A note on the Qur'an's unique textual density is perhaps in order here: It is not uncommon for a single Qur'anic Arabic phrase to embrace two or more complementary meanings at the same time, and this may be the case with 4:29.)

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.( Palestinian Authority TV, 2004) In addition, the hadith unambiguously forbid suicide.(Washingtonpost, 2004) A contrary view is presented by Faisal Bodi writing in The Guardian, who said many Muslims celebrate suicide bombers as heroes defending things they hold sacred. (Tayyeb, 2002)

A tiny minority of Muslim clerics, while condemning the London bombings, 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."(Bodi, 2001) This is, however, far from the mainstream opinion; an overwhelming consensus of Muslim scholars hold that suicide attacks are simply forbidden.

Nevertheless, Islamist militant organisations (including Al-Qaeda, Hamas and Islamic Jihad) continue to argue that suicide operations are justified according to Islamic law, despite Islam's strict prohibition of suicide and murder. Irshad Manji, in a conversation with one leader of Islamic Jihad noted their ideology.

"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.

Since the four suicide bombings in London, 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', (Bodi, 2001) 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 [yaqin] 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 [the one killed], is unquestionably the same Qatil [the immediate/active agent that kills] = Qatil Nafsahu [suicide]"

In January of 2006, one of Shia Islam's highest ranking marja clerics, Ayatollah al-Udhma Yousof al-Sanei also decreed a fatwa against suicide bombing, declaring it as a "terrorist act".

Usage of "Suicide Bombing" and related terms

The usage of the term "suicide bombing" dates back to at least 1940 . An August 10, 1940 New York Times article mentions the term in relation to German tactics. A March 4, 1942 article refers to a Japanese attempt at a "suicide bombing" on an American carrier. The Times (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." 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 kamikaze plane as a "suicide-bomb."

The term with the meaning "an attacker blowing up himself or a vehicle to kill others" appeared in 1981 when it was used in an Associated Press article to describe the bombing of the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut.

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 martyrdom operation), 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 God (Allah), for example those who die while waging jihad bis saif; it is applied to suicide bombers, by the Palestinian Authority among others, in part to overcome Islamic strictures against suicide. This term has been embraced by Hamas, Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Fatah 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; Muhammad al-Durra, for example, is among the most famous shuhada of the Intifada, and even a few non-Palestinians such as Tom Hurndall and Rachel Corrie have been called shahid.)

Homicide bombing

Some effort has been made to replace the term suicide bombing with the term homicide bombing. The first such use was by White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer in April 2002. The Fox News Channel and the New York Post, both owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, are two media organizations that have adopted the term. Fox News began using the term after it was suggested by former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an interview.

Supporters of the term homicide bombing argue that since the primary purpose of such a bombing is to kill other people rather than merely to end one's own life, the term homicide is a more accurate description than suicide. Others argue that homicide bombing is a less useful term, since it fails to capture the distinctive feature of suicide bombings, namely the bombers' use of means which they are aware will inevitably bring about their own deaths. For instance, Timothy McVeigh and Theodore Kaczynski could both ostensibly be called "homicide bombers," but neither could be called a "suicide bomber." To this extent it has also been argued that most bombings are "homicide bombings", as loss of life is their inherent aim.

"Genocide bombing"

Another attempted replacement is genocide bombing. The term was coined in 2002 by Canadian Member of Parliament Irwin Cotler, in an effort to replace the term homicide bomber as a substitute for "suicide bomber." The intention was to focus attention on the alleged intention of genocide by militant Palestinians in their calls to "Wipe Israel off the map."

Islamikaze

In 1997, Professor Raphael Israeli coined the term Islamikaze as a proposed description for Islamic suicide bombers. According to Professor Israeli, he made up the word "Islamikaze" in an effort to signify that the primary goal of "suicide bombers" is not suicide but the infliction of damage to the enemy. (Olivetti, 2002)

The term has not entered into widespread usage. (Ali, 2002) Primarily, it continues to be used in Professor Israeli's own publications and in works discussing Professor Israeli's publications. For example, the most prominent usage of the term is probably Professor Israeli's 2003 book. (Esposito, 2003) However Stephen Blackwell has criticized Israeli's coinage as a "flippant phrase" that "demonstrates a fundamental ignorance of Islamic culture"(Ayubi, 1991), and former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn has discussed whether Israeli's concept of "Islamikazes" as motivated by military rather than suicidal goals may be helpful in profiling possible suicide bombers.(Hafez, 2003)

Psychological perspective of suicide bombing:

Psychology of terrorism and especially suicide bombing has drawn so much attention compared to other threats to life in recent years. This ‘perception’ and attitude aspect to suicide bombing of perpetrators is of great interest to social scientists as well as psychiatrists and psychologists.

Therefore psychological explanation of such a behavior could be of interest to many segments of society. Psychological perspectives could explain this extreme behavior of suicide bombing to some extent, though may not be fully applicable to all cases. Following psychological models are applicable to suicide bombing to some extent.

Developmental model:

This model points toward black and white thinking process reflecting an immature form of thinking, in those individuals who contemplate terrorist behavior. Keeping this in view some researchers suggested that this behaviour could be pathological, could be an act out or overreaction to childhood experiences of humiliation by an aggressor, which results in a sense of failure and lack of self-esteem.

Some researchers suggest that suicide bombers often come from broken families and they suffer from low self-esteem. This concept is not entirely consistent with known psychological principles. For example, people with high self-esteem are more prone to perpetrating violence than those with low.

Group dynamics:

Group dynamics are much more significant in molding psychology of human being. For those people who chose unique life style, then group becomes the sole source of support and friendship for them. Their sense of belonging, meaning in life, even their sense of identity, is derived from the relationships within the group.

Sageman in a study found that about 70% of the suicide bombers joined together while originally they were coming from different countries and cultures. Prior to this get-together they were looking for jobs and education and were not strongly religious9. Sageman infers that social networking of friends, uprooting these young men from their home environment, could be an important factor in joining the suicide groups.

Behaviorist model:

This psychological paradigm states that we learn every behavior and positive reinforcement increases the likelihood of repetition of that behavior in accordance with the principles of operant conditioning.

Keeping this perspective in view the wide spread support, appreciation, the religiously defined rewards in eternal life and military outcome of the suicide bombings could be some factors positively reinforcing the behavior. Most of those who support this model do not assume psychopathology as a cause of suicide bombing.

The Frustration - Aggression Hypothesis:

This is a long-standing model within psychology that has been used to explain aggression and violent behavior. Frustration as a single concept is less useful than the two concepts which cross-cut it, and that is (I) deprivation, and (2) threat to the personal integrity. Deprivation implies much less than is ordinarily implied by the concept of frustration; threat implies much more than physical threat, but also encompasses threat to self esteem.

According to Margolin who tried to apply frustration-aggression hypothesis to terrorist behaviour much terrorist behavior is a response to Frustration of various needs including personal liberty. Knutson, share the same point of view and states that violent and self destructive acts of suicide bombers stem from feelings of rage and hopelessness compounded by the belief that there is ‘no other option’ and no other way out13. While this model cannot provide a complete explanation – there are is no doubt that it is quite relevant in some cases.

Motivation:

Those who carry out suicide bombing have different motives for their acts. Their motivation could be political, religious or military in nature. Many religiously motivated suicide bombers want to attack those whom they see as threat to their religion14. Another motivation could be ‘revenge’ coupled with sense of altruism as many suicide bombers have almost always had at least one relative or close friend who has been killed, or abused by an enemy.

Prevalence of Terrorism in Pakistan

Terrorism in Pakistan has been prevalent since the 1980s mostly by due to the Soviet-Afghan War, and the subsequent proxy war against the communists that continued for at least a decade. The war brought numerous fighters from all over the world to South Asia in the name of jihad, often financed by the United States or Saudi Arabia. These fighters, known as mujahideen, created havoc in Pakistan by carrying out terrorist activities inside the country well after the war officially ended.

The sectarian violence plaguing the country presently is also said to originate in the controversial Islamic policies of General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq initiated during his tenure from 1977 to 1988. These policies gave immense power to religious figures in the country, who in turn spread intolerant religious dogmas among the masses.

There have been many secessionists movements within Pakistan, the most significant of which is the Balochistan liberation movement. The movement gained momentum after the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, when then-East Pakistan successfully attained independence from Pakistan. The Balochistan Liberation Army is currently active in its efforts to achieve independence by employing guerrilla attacks on both civilian and military targets. The attacks frequently incorporate IEDs, and are often filmed and made available on the internet, apparently for propaganda purposes.

According to one source, in 1987, 90% of all reported terrorist activities worldwide were located in Pakistan.[citation needed] This can be attributed to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan's status as the sixth most populous country in the world, with diverse cultures, languages, traditions and customs. The different cultures in Pakistan are associated with differing ideologies, further encouraging regionalism.

Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI, has often been accused of playing a role in major terrorist attacks across the world including the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, terrorism in Kashmir, Mumbai Train Bombings, London Bombings, Indian Parliament Attack, Varnasi bombings, Hyderabad bombings The ISI is also accused of supporting Taliban forces and recruiting and training mujahideen to fight in Afghanistan and Kashmir.

Pakistan is also said to be a haven for terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Omar, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Sipah-e-Sahaba. Pakistan is accused of sheltering and training the Taliban in operations "which include soliciting funding for the Taliban, bankrolling Taliban operations, providing diplomatic support as the Taliban's virtual emissaries abroad, arranging training for Taliban fighters, recruiting skilled and unskilled manpower to serve in Taliban armies, planning and directing offensives, providing and facilitating shipments of ammunition and fuel, and on several occasions apparently directly providing combat support," as quoted by the Human Rights Watch.

Causes

Three of the main causal factors contributing to terrorism in Pakistan are sectarian/religious violence, mistrust of the Musharraf-Bush coalition in the War on Terrorism, and a history of training camps in Pakistan. Other causes, such as political rivalry and business disputes, also take their toll. It is estimated that more than 4,000 people have died in Pakistan in the past 25 years due to sectarian strife.

Role of Madrassas

The presence of many unregulated Madrassas throughout Pakistan is believed to contribute significantly to its terrorism problem. Although the madrassas were created to fill the hole left by the state in educating young people free of charge, some became recruiting centers for terrorists, as most of the financing for the institutions came from terrorist groups and not from the government. There was also a great dearth of well-rounded education in these institutions, as their graduates were only good for Mosque services, and not other fields of life. Thus, social and economic factors played a great role in helping to spread intolerance. The word Taliban itself means "students", with "Talib" (singular) meaning a student.

A small number of these madrassas are supposed to provide military training which give inspiration to European extremists of South Asian descent. The 7 July 2005 London bombings was carried out by people who are believed to have visited a Pakistani madrassa at some time in their life, stoking fears that perhaps certain groups in Pakistan were encouraging violent activity. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf initially acknowledged that some madrassas might be involved in extremism and terrorism. The Pakistani government denied the charges, saying that just because a citizen visits Pakistan once after living and being educated abroad until then, does not mean that the person was encouraged to perform terrorist acts in Pakistan. The government still acted swiftly, requiring all religious schools to register with the government. Also, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's cooperation with the United States' War on Terrorism has led to several assassination attempts on him by those who seek the destruction of Western interests. The president referred to this as terrorism.

State-sponsored terrorism

Intelligence agencies around the world have long suspected Pakistan as a source of extremism and terrorism. It has recently been revealed that Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, a top scientist involved with Pakistan's nuclear program has been selling nuclear technologies to Iran, North Korea and Libya. Khan was tried within Pakistan. It is unclear whether the state has been involved with his dealings. Pakistan has used Islamist militants to fight its wars in Afghanistan and Kashmir.

The Government of Pakistan is accused by India of having supplied monetary aid to certain terrorist organizations fighting for secession in Kashmir. It has strongly denied the latter. However some statements have claimed the involvement of Pakistan's Federal Minister for Railways, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, in establishing terrorist training camps in the early stages of the war many years ago. American intelligence sources, mainly the FBI claims that there are "terrorist training camps" in Pakistan and that the terrorists come to Pakistan from all over the globe. In Pakistan, most modernized infrastructure of terrorist training exists, supported by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in terms of money, ideological training, and moral support. Many other nations and nonpartisan sources also state that Pakistan is one of the perpetrators of state-sponsored terrorism by providing help to Kashmiri and other terrorist outfits with connections to Al-Qaeda.

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Terrorist groups in Pakistan

Lashkar-e-Omar

Lashkar-e-Omar (The Army of Omar) is a terrorist organisation which is believed to have its members derived from 3 organizations, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). The main terrorist activities for which it has been accused are:

Attack on a church in Bahawalpur in Punjab on October 28, 2002, resulting in 18 deaths and 9 injuries. The group, was allegedly involved in the March 17, 2002 grenade attack on a church in the heavily guarded diplomatic enclave in Islamabad in which five persons, including a US diplomat's wife and daughter, were killed and 41 others injured. LeO was reportedly involved in the suicide bombing outside the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi on May 8, 2002 and the June 14th attack on the US consulate in Karachi, in which 10 persons, including five women, were killed and 51 others injured.

Lashkar-e-Toiba

Pakistan-based terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Toiba, has survived global sanctions and is poised to move into the political realm thereby strengthening the collective religious extremist groups' move to coalesce as a formidable opposition to the re-emergent civil democratic movement in Pakistan. This coalition of extremist and terrorist elements within Pakistan and the broad trajectory of the Taliban-Al Qaeda relationship in Afghanistan threatens the stability of Pakistan and the region, and risks fueling the export of terrorism across the world.

Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan

Previously known as Anjuman Sipah-e-Sahaba (ASS), this group is thought to be behind most of the attacks on Shiites. It came into prominence following the Iranian Revolution in 1980s. Incidents thought to be caused by this group are as follows:

October 7, 2004 bomb blasts in Multan that killed 40 people;
September 21, 2004: Suspected SSP members gunned down at least three members of a Shi'a family in a sectarian attack in Dera Ismail Khan;
March 2, 2004 More than 45 people killed and over 100 wounded in an attack on Shi'a Muslims in Quetta; and
It has also been involved in assassinating Iranian diplomats with the most severe being the killing of five Iranian Air Force cadets in Rawalpindi in 1997.
War on Terrorism in Pakistan

The post-9/11 War on Terrorism in Pakistan has had two principal elements: the government's battle with jihad groups banned after 9/11, and the U.S. pursuit of Al-Qaeda, usually (but not always) in coordination with Pakistani forces.

In 2004, the Pakistani army launched a pursuit of Al-Qaeda members in the mountainous area of Waziristan on the Afghan border. Clashes there erupted into a low-level conflict with Islamic militants and local tribesmen, sparking the Waziristan War. A short-lived truce known as the Waziristan accord was brokered in September 2006.

List of terrorist incidents in Pakistan

Karachi: May 8, 2002 – Karachi: June 14, 2002 – Rawalpindi: Sept. 4, 2007 – Karachi: Oct. 18, 2007 – Rawalpindi (Bhutto assassination): Dec. 27, 2007 – Charsadda: February 9, 2008 – Parachinar: February 16, 2008 – Islamabad: June 2, 2008 – Islamabad: July 6, 2008

This is the list of major terrorist incidents in Pakistan. The War on Terrorism had a major impact on Pakistan, when terrorism inside Pakistan increased twofold. The country was already gripped with sectarian violence, but after 9/11, it also had to face violence related to various secessionist movements, and the direct threat of Al-Qaeda and Taliban, which usually targeted high-profile political figures. Terrorists killed 907 people and injured 1,543 others in Pakistan in 2006.[30] In the year 2007 alone, terrorist attacks resulted in 3,448 casualties from 1,503 attacks and clashes according to Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) security report. PIPS report shows visible increase in suicide attacks after Lal Masjid operation.

2001

October 28 Attack on a Protestant church in southern Punjab city of Bahawalpur resulted in 16 deaths and 5 injuries. The causalities were all Christian worshipers except one police officer.
December 21 Pakistani interior minister Lt. Gen. (retd) Moinuddin Haider's elder brother Ehteshamuddin Haider was shot dead by assailants near Soldier Bazaar in Karachi.
2002

February 22 The American journalist Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered in Karachi.
February 26 At least 11 Shi'a worshipers were killed by indiscriminate firing by a group of masked gunmen at the Shah-i-Najaf Mosque in Rawalpindi.
March 17 A grenade attack on a Protestant church in the heavily guarded diplomatic enclave in Islamabad killed five persons, including a US diplomat's wife and daughter, and left more than 40 others injured.
May 7 Noted religious scholar Prof Dr Ghulam Murtaza Malik, his driver and a policeman were shot dead by two gunmen in Iqbal Town, Lahore.
May 8 Bus bombing in Karachi kills 11 Frenchmen and 3 Pakistanis near the Sheraton hotel.
June 14 A powerful car bomb exploded near the heavily-guarded US Consulate in Karachi, killing 12 people and wounding over 50 others. A portion of the outer wall of the consulate was blown apart.
July 13 Nine foreign tourists and three Pakistani nationals were injured in an attack near an archaeological site in the district of Mansehra.
August 5 At least six people were killed and four injured in a gun attack on a missionary school for foreign students in mountain resort of Murree. The attack was carried by four gunmen, when they started firing indiscriminately, however no pupils were among those killed, all of whom were Pakistani guards and employees at the school.
August 9 Three nurses — and an attacker — were killed while 25 others injured in a terrorist attack on a church in the Taxila Christian Hospital, in Taxila, northern Punjab.
October 16 More than eight people were injured in a series of parcel bomb explosions in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi.
September 25 Gunmen stormed the offices of a Christian welfare organization in Karachi, tied seven office workers to their chairs before shooting each in the head at close range.
November 15 An explosion on a bus in Hyderabad, Sindh killed two people and injured at least nine others.
December 5 Three people were killed in an attack at the Macedonian Honorary consulate in the city of Karachi. The dead - all Pakistani - were tied up, gagged and killed before the explosion at the office.
December 25 Unidentified assailants threw a grenade at a Presbyterian church in Pakistan's central Punjab province, killing three young girls. At least 12 others were injured in the attack at Daska, near Sialkot.
2003

February 28 Two policemen were shot dead outside the United States consulate in Karachi, the same place where 12 people were killed by a car bomb nine months ago.
March 10 Two people were injured when a masked terrorist opened indiscriminate fire on a mosque in Gulistan Colony, Faisalabad.
June 8 11 Pakistani police trainees were shot dead in what is believed to have been a sectarian attack on Sariab Road, Quetta, as they all belonged to Hazara Shi'a branch of Islam. Another nine were reported wounded.
July 4 At least 47 people were killed and 150 injured in an attack on a Shia mosque in the south-western Pakistani city of Quetta.
October 3 Six employees of Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) were killed and several others injured when their official van was fired upon on Hub River Road in Mauripur, Karachi. A Lashkar-e-Jhangvi cadre was officially charged.
October 6 Maulana Azam Tariq, chief of the Millat-i-Islamia (formerly Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan) and MNA, was assassinated by unidentified gunmen along with four others as his car drove into the capital, Islamabad.
December 14 President Pervez Musharraf survived an assassination attempt when a powerful bomb went off minutes after his highly-guarded convoy crossed a bridge in Rawalpindi. Musharraf was apparently saved by a jamming device in his limousine that prevented the remote controlled explosives from blowing up the bridge as his convoy passed over it.
December 25 Another attempt was carried on the president 11 days later when two suicide bombers tried to assassinate Musharraf, but their car bombs failed to kill the president; 16 others nearby died instead. Musharraf escaped with only a cracked windscreen on his car. Militant Amjad Farooqi was apparently suspected as being the mastermind behind these attempts, and was killed by Pakistani forces in 2004 after an extensive manhunt.
2004

February 28 An apparent suicide bomber was killed and three worshipers were injured in an attack on Imambargah in Satellite Town, Rawalpindi.
March 2 At least 42 persons were killed and more than 100 wounded when a procession of the Shia Muslims was attacked by rival Sunni extremists at Liaquat Bazaar in Quetta.
May 3 A car bomb in south-western city of Gwadar killed three Chinese engineers and injured 10 other people.
May 7 A suicide bomber attacked a crowded Shia mosque in Sindh Madrassatul Islam in Karachi, killing at least 15 worshipers. More than 100 people were also injured, 25 of them critically in the attack. One person was killed in the riots that followed the attack.
May 14 Six members of Shia family was shot dead in Mughalpura locality of Lahore.
May 26 Two car bombs explode within 20 minutes of each other outside the Pakistan-American Cultural Center and near the US consul general's residence in Karachi, killing two men and injuring more than 27 people, mainly policemen and journalists.
May 30 A senior Sunni religious scholar and head of Islamic religious school Jamia Binoria, Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai, was gunned down in his car while leaving his home in Karachi.
May 31 A suicide bomber blew up the Imambarghah Ali Raza mosque in Karachi in the middle of evening prayers, killing 16 worshipers and injuring 35. Two people were killed in riots over the mosque attack and Shamzai's assassination.
June 10 Gunmen opened fire on a convoy carrying the then corps commander Lt Gen Ahsan Saleem Hyat leaving 11 people dead in Karachi. The corps commander who escaped unhurt later became the vice chief of army staff under General Pervez Musharraf.
July 30 Assassination attempt on the Prime Minister-elect Shaukat Aziz, while he was campaigning for by-election in Fateh Jang, Attock District, Punjab. Even though he survived the attempt, nine people were killed due to the suicide bombing.
August 2 Chief Minister of Balochistan province Jam Mir Mohammad Yousaf escaped an assassination bid when unidentified persons fired at his convoy killing one of his bodyguards and injuring two others.
August 8 At least eight people were killed and over 40 others injured when two bombs exploded in quick succession near the Jamia Binoria Madressah, Karachi.
August 31 Three persons were killed and three others injured in a bomb blast at a shop in the Balochi town of Kalat.
September 21 Suspected Sipah-e-Sahaba members gunned down at least three members of a Shi'a family in a sectarian attack in Dera Ismail Khan.
October 1 A suicide bombing left 25 people dead and dozen injured at a Shia mosque after Friday prayers in the eastern city of Sialkot.
October 7 A powerful car bomb left 40 people dead and wounded over 100 during a Sunni rally to commemorate Maulana Azam Tariq, assassinated leader of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, in the central city of Multan. This was most probably the retaliation of Sialkot suicide attacks exactly a week ago.
October 10 An explosion by a suicide bomber at a mosque used by Shia Muslims in Lahore killed at least four people and left eight people injured.
December 10 At least 10 people were killed and 30 injured in a bomb explosion at a market in city of Quetta. The bomb exploded near an Army truck, as Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility.
2005

January 8 At least 10 people have been killed in sectarian violence in the northern Pakistani city of Gilgit. The shooting of a Shia Muslim cleric earlier sparked clashes between his supporters and Sunni Muslims.
March 19 At least 35 people were killed and many injured when a Sipah-e-Sahaba terrorist exploded himself in a mixed crowd of Shia and Sunni devotees at the shrine of Pir Rakhel Shah in remote village of Fatehpur in Jhal Magsi District, Balochistan.
May 25 As many as six members of a family were killed in an explosion at village Bandkhel in Makeen Tehsil, South Waziristan.
May 27 At least 20 people were slaughtered and 82 wounded due to a suicide bombing at the annual Shia Muslims congregation at the shrine of Bari Imam in Islamabad.
May 31 Six bodies were recovered from a fast food outlet set ablaze by an angry mob after an attack on a Shia mosque in Karachi. It was retaliation to the suicide attack on the Shia mosque in central Karachi where five people were killed and about 20 others wounded.
September 22 At least six people, including a woman, were killed and 27 injured in two bomb blasts in Lahore. Police said the bombs went off within an interval of one and a half hour.
October 7 Eight members of the Ahmadiyya faith were killed inside a mosque as worshipers were performing Salah. The incident occurred in Mandi Bahauddin, Punjab, Pakistan.
October 13 Around 12 people including students were killed in the curfew and clashes between the Rangers and civilians in Gilgit. The clashes came after the death of a student in Rangers custody.
November 15 A car bomb exploded outside a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet in Karachi, Pakistan. At least three people were killed and eight others wounded.
December 8 At least 12 people were killed and 30 injured in a bomb explosion in the Jandola town of South Waziristan.
December 22 At least seven people have been killed in what officials say was a battle between Islamic students and bandits in the Jandola town of South Waziristan.
2006

January 25 At least six people were killed and five others hurt after a bus ran over a landmine in Dera Bugti District, Balochistan.[85]
February 5 A bomb explosion killed 13 people including three army personnel and injured 18 on a Lahore-bound bus en-route from Quetta in Kolpur, Bolan District, Balochistan. No groups claimed of responsibility for the attack.
February 9 Sectarian violence marred the holiest day of the Shiite calendar, with at least 36 people killed and more than 100 wounded in attacks and clashes in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The violence erupted with a suspected suicide attack on Shiites in Hangu, in the northwestern part of the country, as they celebrated Day of Ashura.
March 2 A power suicide car bomb attack in the high security zone near the US Consulate, Karachi, killed four people including a US diplomat, a day before President George W. Bush was to reach Pakistan.
March 10 At least 26 people, mostly women and children, were killed in Dera Bugti District, Balochistan after their bus hit a landmine. Both tribal rebels and security forces planted land mines in the area.
April 11 Over 50 people, including Sunni scholars, were killed in a bomb explosion at a religious gathering celebrating the birthday of Prophet Muhammad in Nishtar Park, Karachi.
June 12 At least five people were killed and 17 wounded in a bomb attack in Quetta hotel.
June 15 Unidentified gunmen killed a senior prison official Amanullah Khan Niazi and four others in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi.
June 16 Two female teachers and two children were shot dead in Khoga Chiri village in Orakzai Agency.
July 14 Allama Hassan Turabi, a Shiite religious scholar and chief of Tehrik-e-Jafaria Pakistan, and his 12-year-old nephew were killed in a suicide attack near his Abbas Town residence. The suicide bomber was later identified as Abdul Karim, a Bangladeshi-speaking, resident of a shantytown in the central city area of Karachi.
August 26 Tribal leader Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed in a battle between tribal militants and government forces in Balochistan. At least five soldiers and at least 30 rebels are thought to have died too.
August 26-31 Akbar Bugti's killing sparked five days of rioting that left six people dead, dozens wounded and 700 under arrest.
September 8 At least six people were killed and 17 injured, four of them seriously, when a powerful bomb blast hit the Rakhni bazaar area of Barkhan District, Balochistan.
October 6 17 people were killed in fighting between Sunni and Shia Muslims over a dispute over ownership of the shrine to 18th Century figure Syed Amir Anwar Shah shrine in Pakistan's Orakzai tribal region.
October 20 A bomb blast killed at least six people and left 21 injured in a busy shopping district of Peshawar.
November 8 A suicide bomber killed 42 Pakistani Army soldiers and injured 20 in the northwestern town of Dargai, apparently in retaliation to the Chenagai airstrike which killed 80 people in the same Bajaur region in the previous month.

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2007

January 15 A powerful blast in the Jalozai refugee camp destroyed a mud-house, killing four people and injuring five others.
January 26 Two people were killed and five injured in a suspected suicide attack in Pakistan. The bomber and a security guard were killed in the blast at the Marriott hotel in the capital Islamabad.
January 27 At least 13 people, including a senior police official, were killed Saturday evening in a suicide bombing near a crowded Shiite mosque in Peshawar. About 60 people were wounded, 17 critically, in the 9:20 p.m. blast. About 2,000 Shiite Muslims were in and around the mosque, police said.
February 6 A suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a parking area outside Islamabad International Airport injuring 5 people.
February 17 A suicide bomber killed 15 people — including a judge — after blowing himself up inside a courtroom in Quetta, Balochistan. At least 24 people were wounded in the suicide attack.
February 20 Punjab Minister for social welfare Zil-e-Huma Usman was shot and killed in Gujranwala. Her assassin, Mohammed Sarwar, was reported to have been motivated by her refusal to abide by the Islamic code of dress and a dislike for the involvement of women in political affairs. • March 19-22 Clashes between pro-government forces under Maulvi Nazir and Al-Qaeda remnants in the Waziristan region kill at least 135 people on both sides. A ceasefire is declared after four days of fighting enforced by officials from both sides.
April 10-11 Up to 35 people were killed and scores of others wounded in heavy fighting between rival Shia and Sunni groups in different areas of the Kurram Agency on Tuesday night and Wednesday.
April 28 Assassination attempt on Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, who is the Interior minister that killed 28 people in Charsadda, NWFP. This time again an attempt on a high ranking officer of Pakistani government was unsuccessful.
May 12 As many as 50 people were killed and hundreds injured when party workers of opposing parties; MQM, ANP and PPP clash in Karachi. The riots started when rival political rallies take the same route amid lawyers protests for restoration of Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as the Chief Justice of Supreme Court.
May 15 A bomb blast at the local Marhaba hotel in Peshawar killed 24 people and injured 30.
June 2 Five people, including a tribal chief, a political tehsildar and a journalist were killed, when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in the Dara Khwar, Bajaur Agency.
June 8 Three people were killed and seven others injured when a bomb exploded on a bus in Hub, Balochistan. The coach was heading from Lasbela to Karachi.
June 19 At least 22 people were killed and 10 others wounded when a missile hit a cluster of compounds in Datakhel area of North Waziristan.
June 23 A barrage of artillery and missiles fired from Afghanistan hit residential compounds and a hotel in Mangrotai area of the North Waziristan tribal region, killing 11 people and wounding 10 others, eyewitnesses and officials said. The dead included two children and a woman.
July 6 President General Pervez Musharraf escaped yet another attempt on his life on Friday morning when around 36 rounds fired at his aircraft from a submachine gun in Rawalpindi missed their target. In another incident, four Pakistan Army troops, including a major and a lieutenant, were killed in an improvised explosive device attack on a military convoy in Dir District – a stronghold of the Jamaat-e-Islami and the banned Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi.
July 8 Unidentified gunmen killed three Chinese workers and wounded another near Peshawar in what Pakistani officials said was a terrorist attack apparently linked to the bloody siege of militants at an Islamabad mosque.
July 12 Seven people including three policemen were killed and several others injured in two suicide attacks, two blasts and a rocket attack in three tribal regions and Swat district in the NWFP.
July 14 At least 23 paramilitary troops died and 27 others injured when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-packed car into their convoy in Miranshah in one of the deadliest attacks on the security forces in North Waziristan.
July 15 At least 49 are killed and hundreds injured when suicide attack and car bombs explode throughout NWFP in an apparent retaliation for Lal Masjid operation. 11 security personnel and six civilians were killed and 47 others injured in Matta, Swat District, when suicide bombers smashed two cars packed with explosives into an army convoy, and 25 people were killed and 61 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the Dera Ismail Khan police recruitment center.
July 17 At least 17 people were killed and 50 injured as a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the venue of the district bar council convention in Islamabad killing mostly Pakistan Peoples Party political workers waiting for the arrival of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who was to address a lawyers convention.
July 19 More than 40 people were killed in three separate bomb attacks. In the first incident, bomb was detonated in a mosque used by military personnel in the north-western town of Kohat, killing at least 11 people. In the second one, 26 people died and 50 were injured in the southern town of Hub, Lasbela District, Balochistan, in an attack apparently targeting Chinese workers. And in the last one, at least seven people were killed and more than 20 injured in a suicide car bombing at a police academy in the north-western town of Hangu.
July 24 At least nine people including a woman were killed and 40 others injured when unidentified militants fired a barrage of rockets on the civilian population in the northwestern city of Bannu.
July 27 A suspected suicide bomber killed at least 13 people at Muzaffar hotel in Aabpara, Islamabad Friday after hundreds of stone-throwing protesters clashed with police as the capital's Red Mosque reopened for the first time since a bloody army raid.[124] The same day Raziq Bugti, former guerrilla commander turned spokesman for the Balochistan government, was shot dead by assailants in Quetta.
August 2 The police in Sargodha shot dead a suspected suicide bomber after the man failed to detonate the explosives he was wearing. The man, who entered a police training center, killed a policeman before he was gunned down.
August 4 Nine people were killed and 43 injured when a suicide car bomber triggered an explosion at a busy bus station in Parachinar, Kurram Agency.
August 26 Four policemen were killed and two others wounded in a suicide attack in the Machaar area of Shangla district.
September 4 At least 25 people were killed and 66 injured in two suicide bomb blasts in Rawalpindi cantonment’s high security areas during morning rush hour. The first blast took place near Qasim Market where a Defence Ministry bus carrying around 38 civilians and uniformed officials was hit, killing 18 people. Five minutes later, a second blast took place near RA Bazaar, behind General Headquarters. The blast was caused by explosives fixed to a motorcycle, which blew up killing seven people on the spot.
September 11 At least 17 people, including three security personnel and a woman, were killed and 16 others injured when a 15-year-old suicide bomber blew himself up in a passenger van at Bannu Adda in Dera Ismail Khan district. The same day Omar Ayub Khan's protocol officer, Liaquat Hussain, was found shot dead near the Northern Bypass in Karachi.
September 13 At least 20 off-duty commandos were killed and 11 injured in an apparent suicide blast at an army officers’ mess in Tarbela Ghazi, Haripur near Tarbela Dam. The targeted were the Pakistan Army's special forces unit SSG's Karar Company.
September 15 Unidentified assailants shot dead Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader and Wafaqul Madaris Vice Chairman Maulana Hassan Jan in the jurisdiction of Yakatoot police station in Peshawar. Hassan, a former MNA, also issued a fatwa against suicide attacks, and he along with a group of Pakistani clerics traveled to Afghanistan in 2001 to convince Mullah Omar that he should expel Osama Bin Laden from Afghanistan to avoid American attacks.
September 17 Militants blew up a welfare hospital in Mian Mandi bazaar, 10 kilometres northwest of the agency headquarters in Mohmand Agency. Sources said that two explosions were heard at around 2am when the Al Sehat Welfare Hospital building collapsed.
October 1 A suicide bomber disguised in a woman’s burqa blew himself up at a busy police checkpost in Bannu, NWFP killing at least 16 people including four policemen and injuring 29.
October 9 A time bomb exploded at Nishtarabad CD-market injuring at least 16 people in Peshawar.
October 12 Mohmand Taliban publicly behead six "criminals" and lashed three others in the name of Sharia.
October 18 Attack on Benazir Bhutto convoy killed over 139 in Karachi and sleft more than 450 injured in one of the most deadliest terrorist attacks in Pakistan. Former PM Benazir Bhutto was returning after 8 years of self imposed exile when the bomber struck the convoy killing dozens. Karachi Bombs in Pictures.
October 20 At least eight people were killed and 28 injured when a powerful bomb planted in a pickup vehicle exploded in Dera Bugti, Balochistan.
October 25 At least 20 people including 18 troops died and 35 others were injured in a blast aimed at a vehicle carrying Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel in the troubled Swat district. It was suspected to be a suicide attack.
October 30 A suicide bomber struck a police checkpoint in the high security zone of Rawalpindi, less than a kilometer from President General Pervez Musharraf’s camp office, killing seven people, three of them policemen, and injuring 31 others. The blast splattered check post of General Tariq Majid, current Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff's residence.
November 1 A suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle into a PAF bus near Sargodha, killing seven officers of the Pakistan Air Force stationed at Mushaf Airbase and three civilians on the Faisalabad Road on Thursday morning. 28 people suffered injuries. It is significant that after this event a state of emergency was imposed on the country.
November 9 A suicide bomber killed at least three people and injured two others when he detonated explosives at the house of Federal Political Affairs Minister Amir Muqam in Peshawar. The minister was unhurt, but a cousin of his was injured. The three dead were policemen guarding the house.
November 17-19 As many as 94 people were killed and 168 injured in three days of in-fighting between the rival Sunni and Shia sects in Parachinar, Kurram Agency in Pakistani tribal areas, bordering Afghanistan. Only by the fourth day, the army gained control of the area and a ceasefire was maintained in the area.
November 24 30 people were killed in two suicide attacks in Rawalpindi. In the first incident, a suicide bomber rammed his car into a 72-seater bus parked in front of Ojhri Camp on Murree Road carrying Inter-Services Intelligence officials to work, killing 28 officials and a bystander. The second incident occurred as a second suicide bomber attempted to enter the General Headquarters (GHQ). Upon being asked for identification at the GHQ’s check post, he blew himself up, resulting in the deaths of one security official and a bystander.
December 9 At least 10 people including three policemen and seven civilians, including two children, perished in a car bombing near Matta, Swat District.
December 10 A suicide attack on the school bus carrying children during the morning rush injuring seven of them. It was a PAF employees bus and the attack took place near Minhas Airbase, Kamra. It was a second major attack on the Pakistan Air Force after the Sargodha attack.
December 13 Two suicide bombings near an army checkpost in Quetta killed seven people, including three personnel of the Pakistan Army.
December 15 A suicide attacker rammed his explosives-laden bicycle into a military checkpost killing five people and injuring 11 others in the first-ever suicide attack in the city of Nowshera. The attack occurred at a checkpoint near the gate of an army school.
December 17 12 security personnel were killed and five wounded in a suicide attack in the country’s restive northwestern city of Kohat. Victims were members of army’s local football team.
December 21 On the eve of Eid ul-Adha, a suicide bomb blast again targeted Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao killing at least 57 and injuring over 100 at Jamia Masjid Sherpao, in Charsadda District. Aftab Ahmad survived the blast, but his younger son Mustafa Khan Sherpao, was injured.
December 23 At least seven people, including a soldier and six civilians, were killed and another 23 wounded as a suicide bomber targeted an army convoy near Mingora.
December 27: Two-time Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated in a shooting and suicide bombing in Rawalpindi's Liaquat Bagh, killing up to 20 others and injuring many. The site is notorious as the place where former Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan was also assassinated in October 1951.
December 28 At least 33 people, including four policemen, were killed all over Pakistan in the violence that ensued after the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The situation grew so worse that Sindh Rangers were given orders to shoot-at-sight.
December 28 A roadside bomb killed nine people, including former PML-Q minister Asfandyar Amirzaib, who is a grandson of Wali-e-Swat, in Swat District.
2008

January 10 24 people were killed and 73 injured in a suicide attack when the policemen were deliberately targeted outside Lahore High Court before the scheduled lawyer's protest against the government in provincial capital of Lahore. This attack was first of its kind in Lahore since the start of War on Terrorism.
January 14 At least 10 people were killed and over 50 wounded when a bomb exploded in Quaidabad. The bomb was planted on a bicycle and it went off during wee hours in a vegetable market in Karachi.
January 17 At least 12 people were killed and 25 others injured, three of them critically, when a suicide bomber blew himself up in an imambargah in Peshawar.
February 4 At least 10 people were killed and 27 others injured, when a suicide bomber crashed his bike into an armed forces bus carrying students and officials of Army Medical College, near the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.
February 9 At least 25 people died and 35 were injured after a powerful explosion hit an opposition election rally in Charsadda in the north-western Pakistan. The attack targeted ANP, a secular party, one of whose leaders, Fazal-ur-Rehman Atakhail, was assassinated February 7 in Karachi triggering widespread protests. Possible conspirators of the latest attack could be the Islamist Taliban-al-Qaeda nexus operating in the northwestern Pakistan.
February 11 A suicide attack on a public meeting in Miranshah, North Waziristan left at least eight people dead and a dozen wounded, including a candidate for the National Assembly. It was the second attack on ANP's election gathering in two days.
February 16 A suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle on the election meeting of Pakistan Peoples Party, the party of the slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in Parachinar, Kurram Agency in northwestern Pakistan. The attack left at least 47 people dead and 150 injured according to Interior Ministry of Pakistan. It was the fourth such attack on PPP's political workers within a year; two of them targeting the former PPP leader Benazir Bhutto.[160]
February 18 At least 24 people were killed and nearly 200 were injured in election-related violence across the country on the eve of Pakistani general election, Aaj TV reported.
February 22 A roadside bomb near the town of Matta, Swat District, NWFP killed at least 13 members of a wedding party and left about a dozen injured. An army spokesman said the bomb had been detonated by remote control. Women and children were among the casualties.
February 25 Pakistan Army's top medic Lt Gen Mushtaq Baig was killed, along with the driver and security guard, when a suicide attack ripped apart the vehicle he was traveling in at 2:45pm local time near Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. At least 5 other passersby were also killed and 20 injured in the incident. Gen Baig was the highest ranking officer to be killed in Pakistan since the 9/11 attacks.
February 29 As many as 38 people were killed and 75 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up in Mingora, Swat District on Friday during the funeral of a senior police officer who had been killed hours earlier in Lakki Marwat in southern part of NWFP. The police DSP was killed along with three other policemen when their vehicle was hit in a roadside bomb earlier in the day. Witnesses said the suicide attack took place when a police party was presenting a gun salute in honor of the slain police officer in a school ground in Mingora town at about 8pm.
March 2 At least 42 people were killed and 58 injured in a suicide attack, when the bomber struck the meeting of tribal elders and local officials in the town of Darra Adam Khel, a few miles south of Peshawar. The town of Darra was the center of violent clashes earlier in January when the militants took over the Kohat Tunnel that connected Peshawar with Kohat. After the onslaught of security forces to take back the tunnel, the fighting resulted in the deaths of 13 troops and 70 militants.
March 4 Eight persons were killed and 24 others injured when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the parking area of the Pakistan Navy War College located in the city of Lahore. It was the first time a Pakistani naval institution was targeted by the militants (Army has been targeted at least eight times outside the war zone and Air Force twice) since the ongoing War on Terrorism in Pakistan in general and post-Lal Masjid siege in particular. This attack on War College was carried out by two suicide attackers, the first one to clear the way for the second one; and the second one to do the damage.
March 11 At least 24 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in twin suicide bombings in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore. One of the attacks ripped apart Federal Investigation Agency building killing 21, including 16 policemen. The other one hit the posh locality of Model Town, exploding close to Bilawal House, associated with PPP leaders Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari.
March 15 An attack occurred when a bomb was hurled over a wall surrounding an Islamabad restaurant. Four of the 12 people wounded in the bombing were U.S. FBI agents. In addition to wounding the agents, the explosion killed a Turkish woman and wounded a fifth American, three Pakistanis, a person from the United Kingdom and someone from Japan.
March 16 At least 20 people were killed in a missile strike in the tribal area of South Waziristan.
April 9 Riots in Karachi kill 9 people and wound many others with 40 vehicles getting torched after two groups of lawyers scuffle that begin after PML-Q leaders, former CM Sindh Arbab Ghulam Rahim and former federal minister Sher Afgan Niazi are maltreated ahead of government formation in the provinces of Sindh and Punjab.
April 17 At least 20 people were killed and dozens others injured in the clashes between two belligerent factions in Khyber Agency.
April 25 At least three people were killed and 26 injured when a car bomb exploded near Mardan City Police Station.
May 1 17 people were injured, three of them seriously, when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque in Bara tehsil, Khyber Agency. The incident took place in the the headquarters of the armed religious group Amr Bil Maroof wa Nahi Anil Munkir (promotion of virtue and prevention of vice), and it probably targeted amir of the group Haji Namdar.
May 6 At least four people have been killed in a suspected suicide attack in Bannu, amid signs a truce with militants may be breaking down, negotiations for which was started in March.
May 9 A bomb exploded at the Al-Saeed Hotel on Sumungli Road in Quetta’s Jinnah Town, leaving at least 19 people injured.
May 16 Two security officials were killed and another was injured when a remote-controlled bomb set off and damaged their vehicle in the Kohat Cantt area.
May 18 A bomb attack targeting the Army's Punjab Regimental Center market in the city of Mardan killed at least 13 people, including four soldiers and injured more than 20. This was the second attack in Mardan in a month after a car bomb on April 25 killed three and injured 26 people.
May 19 At least four people were killed and another two injured in a remote-controlled bomb blast outside a mosque in the Mamond tehsil of Bajaur Agency.
May 26 Seven people were killed and five others injured in what appeared to be incidents of sectarian violence in Dera Ismail Khan.
June 2 The Danish embassy in Islamabad is attacked with a car bomb killing six people. A post purportedly from Al-Qaeda's Mustafa Abu al-Yazid appears on the Internet a day after the attack claiming responsibility. The statement mentions the publication of "insulting drawings" and the refusal to "apologize for publishing them" referring to the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy.
June 9 Sufi Muhammad, leader of the TNSM, on Monday survived a remote-controlled bombing initiated by local Taliban in Peshawar, in which four policemen got injured.
June 16 A bomb blast inside a Shia mosque killed at least four people and wounded two others in Dera Ismail Khan.
July 6 A suicide bomber killed 19 people in an attack targeting policemen deployed at a rally observing the first year anniversary of an army raid on the capital’s Lal Masjid.
July 7 A string of small explosions, apparently from bombs, wounded at least 37 people in Karachi, rattling Pakistan a day after a deadly suicide attack in Islamabad.
July 13 Four people were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up soon after the concluding session of the Shuhada-e-Islam Conference in Dera Ismail Khan.

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RATIONAL OF THE RESEARCH

Various News Papers reports and information from news channels suggests that the phenomenon of suicide bombing is new in Pakistan. November 6, 2002 marked the occasion when a lady blew herself in front of news paper office in Karachi, injuring 6 people. Since then there have been 40 incidents up till now claiming more than 832 lives and injuring about than 1762(Table 1).

There have been steady rise in the incidents since 2006 with its peak in August 2007. NWFP is the most affected province followed by Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Regarding targets of the security personals have been the main target of suicide bombing, followed by other religious sects.

METHOD

OBJECTIVE OF THE RESEARCH

To study the phenomenon of prevalence of suicidal bombing in Pakistan.

HYPOTHESIS

1. Men are more involved in suicidal bombing.

STUDY DESIGN



PROCEDURE

The study is based on the reported incidents of suicidal bombing in Pakistan. The data was collected from the print and electronic media including news, stories, articles and the like. The data then was tabulated according to the requirement of the research’s hypothesis and the result was then drawn accordingly.

DISCUSSION

There were 56 acts of suicide terrorism in Pakistan during 2007, resulting in the death of 419 members of the security forces----the majority of them from the police and para-military forces--- and 217 civilians. The most important civilian killed was Mrs. Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister. As against this, there were only six incidents in 2006 in which 46 members of the security forces and 91 civilians were killed.

Of the 56 incidents of 2007, there were only four during the first six months of the year. The remaining 52 took place after the Pakistani commando action in the Lal Masjid of Islamabad between July 10 and 13, 2007, in which about 300 tribal girls studying in a madrasa attached to the mosque were allegedly killed. Three events of the second half of 2007 led to a wave of suicide terrorism--- the commando action in the Lal Masjid and the alleged death of a large number of tribal girls; the suicide committed by Abdullah Mehsud, a former inmate of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba, when he was surrounded by the security forces in Balochistan on July 27, 2007, and the army operation in the Swat Valley of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) in December, 2007, against the members of the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) headed by Maulana FM Radio Fazlullah, who had captured de facto control of it, when the NWFP was ruled by a six-party coalition of religious fundamentalist parties called the Muttahida- Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). The coalition quit office in proterst against Pervez Mushaaraf's action in contesting re-election as the President from the outgoing Assemblies elected in 2002. Thereafter, the Army went into action.

The largest number of suicide attacks in a month was in July. There were 15 suicide strikes between July 14 and 31, 2007--- an average of one a day. The second largest number in a month was in December, 2007. There were 10, including the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

There were eight in August, seven in September and six each in October and November, 2007. One of the six in October was the unsuccessful attempt to kill Benazir Bhutto in Karachi on October 18.Of the 52 suicide attacks in the second half of 2007, five were against political leaders--- two against Benazir in Karachi and Rawalpindi, one against some workers of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in Islamabad and one each against Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, a Pashtun leader of the PPP who had deserted her in 2002 and supported Musharraf, and a junior Minister of the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (Qaide Azam). Sherpao was the Interior Minister at the time of the Lal Masjid raid. He and the junior Minister escaped being killed. The PPP workers in Islamabad were targeted because Benazir Bhutto had supported the commando action into the Lal Masjid.

There was one directed against the Chinese working in Pakistan. In Hub,Balochistan, Chinese engineers travelling by a bus escaped death when the bus was attacked by a suicide bomber. There was no attack against American targets despite a strong anti-US feeling.

The remaining 46 attacks were against targets associated with the Army, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the Special Services Group (SSG) and the Air Force. The police were not the primary targets, but a large number of them died because they were deployed in large numbers to protect the targets. Whenever the police guards suspected anyone and called him for frisking, he blew himself up.

Of the 56 attacks during 2007, 23 were in the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), 21 in the NWFP, including four in the Swat Valley, nine in Punjab, two in Balochistan and one in Sindh. Of the 23 in the FATA, only two were in North Waziristan and one in the Bajaur Agency, where, according to the US, the terrorist infrastructure of Al Qaeda is located. The remaining 20 were in South Waziristan, where there are no confirmed reports of any Al Qaeda infrastructure. All the attacks in South Waziristan came from areas which are controlled by the Mehsuds. In the areas controlled by other tribes, there were no incidents of suicide terrorism. Two cantonments saw repeated suicide strikes--- Rawalpindi (5), where the General Headquarters of the Army are located, and Kohat (3) in the NWFP where a training centre for middle-level army officers is located.

During the second half of 2007, there were two calls for suicide attacks in reprisal for the Lal Masjid raid by Pakistan Army Commandoes. The first was issued by Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi of the Lal Masjid before he and his student supporters were killed by the commandoes. The second was by Osama bin Laden in his message coinciding with the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 strikes in the US Homeland. The call given by Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi before his death at the hands of the Army had a greater impact on the tribal population in South Waziristan and the Swat Valley than the call of bin Laden. The death of Ghazi was followed by one act of suicide terrorism almost every day for 15 days.

Since the police has not been able to detect most of these incidents so far, one does not know for certain how many of these were the outcome of outpouring of anger by individuals not belonging to any organisation and how many were orchestrated and co-ordinated by organisations such as Al Qaeda or the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan of which Baitullah Mehsud is the Amir.

RESULT OF HYPOTHESIS

According to the data, out of 56 incidents of suicidal bombing 55 bombers were men and only one perpetrator was women, therefore the hypothesis “Men are more involved in suicidal bombing” is accepted.

CONCLUSION

The emergence of amorphous and largely unknown terrorist individuals and groups operating independently (freelancers) and the new recruitment patterns of some groups, such as recruiting suicide commandos, female and child terrorists, and scientists capable of developing weapons of mass destruction, provide a measure of urgency to increasing our understanding of the psychological and sociological dynamics of terrorist groups and individuals. Common belief holds that the phenomenon of suicidal terrorism in Pakistan is motivated by the desire for the 72 virgins and the various other fruits of paradise. Recruiters are said to encourage the aspiring bombers by emphasizing the “higher place” as shaheed, enjoys in heaven. However, the wills of suicide bombers, video tapes or written personal statements, readily available in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, invariably stress political grievances such as an Islamic country like Pakistan under high influence of anti-Islam forces.

Responsibility for most suicide attacks in Pakistan has been claimed by organizations that have clearly made a tactical decision to use suicide bombing against an unpopular government that is perceived as pro-America. These organizations such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Jamiat-al-Furqan and Lashker-e-Jhagvi have been vocal in calling the Musharraf government an “American puppet”.


source: http://www.ilmkidunya.com/article/suicidal_bombing.asp

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