View source for Suicide attack

{{Short description|Violent tactic resulting in the attacker's intentional death}}
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[[File:UA_Flight_175_hits_WTC_south_tower_9-11.jpeg |thumb|right|400px|
[[Al-Qaeda]]'s [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001, in [[New York City|New York]].]]
[[File:D4Y Yoshinori Yamaguchi col.jpg |thumb|right|360px|
[[Kamikaze]] pilot Lt. Yoshinori Yamaguchi's [[Yokosuka D4Y |aircraft]] <!-- (Type 33 ''Suisei'') "Judy" --> in a suicide dive against {{USS|Essex|CV-9|6}} on 25 November 1944. The attack killed 15 and wounded 44. <!-- The [[dive brake]]s are extended and the non-[[Self-sealing fuel tank|self-sealing]] port wing tank trails a mist of fuel, smoke and hydraulic fluid. -->]]

A '''suicide attack''' (also known by a wide variety of other names, [[#Terminology |see below]]) is a deliberate [[Strike (attack) |attack]] in which the perpetrators [[suicide |knowingly sacrifice their own lives]] as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of [[murder–suicide]] that is often associated with [[terrorism]] or [[war]]. When the attackers are [[definition of terrorism |labelled as terrorists]], the attacks are sometimes referred to as an act of ''"[[#terrorism |suicide terrorism]]"''.<ref name="Moghadam 2006" /> While generally not inherently regulated under [[international law]], suicide attacks in their execution often violate international laws of war, such as prohibitions against [[perfidy]] and [[Civilian casualty|targeting civilians]].<ref name="Hunter 2015 (AOAV)" />

Suicide attacks have occurred in various contexts, ranging from military campaigns—such as the Japanese {{lang|ja-Latn|[[kamikaze]]}} pilots during [[World War II]] {{nowrap|(1944{{endash}}1945)}}—to more contemporary [[Islamic terrorism|Islamic terrorist]] campaigns—including the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001. Initially, these attacks primarily targeted military, police, and public officials. This approach continued with groups like [[al-Qaeda]], which combined mass civilian targets with political leadership.<ref name="Moghadam 2006" /> While only a few suicide attacks occurred between 1945 and 1980,<ref name="Pape-2003" >{{cite journal|last1= Pape|first1= Robert |author1-link=Robert Pape |title=The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism |date= 27 August 2003|volume=97|issue=3|quote=Before the early 1980s, suicide terrorism was rare but not unknown (Lewis 1968; O'Neill 1981; Rapoport 1984). However, since the attack on the U.S. embassy in Beirut in April 1983, there have been at least 188 separate suicide terrorist attacks worldwide, in Lebanon, Israel, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Turkey, Russia and the United States.|page=343|journal=[[American Political Science Review]]|doi= 10.1017/S000305540300073X|hdl= 1811/31746|s2cid= 1019730|hdl-access= free}}</ref> between 1981 and September 2015 a total of 4,814 suicide attacks were carried out in over 40 countries,<ref name="CPoST" /> resulting in over 45,000 deaths. The global frequency of these attacks increased from an average of three per year in the 1980s to roughly one per month in the 1990s, almost one per week from 2001 to 2003,{{sfn|Atran|2006|p=128}} and roughly one per day from 2003 to 2015.<ref name="CPoST" /> In 2019, there were 149 suicide bombings in 24 countries, carried out by 236 individuals. These attacks resulted in 1,850 deaths and 3,660 injuries.<ref>{{cite web |last=Rinehart |first=Christine Sixta |date=2021-06-15 |title=Escaping Atonement in Sunni Islam |doi=10.36304/ExpwMCUP.2021.03 |location=Quantico, Virginia |publisher=Marine Corps University Press |url=https://www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Marine-Corps-University-Press/Expeditions-with-MCUP-digital-journal/Escaping-Atonement-in-Sunni-Islam/ |access-date=2025-06-08 |via=U.S. Marine Corps }}</ref>
They have been used by a wide range of political ideologies, from far right (Japan and Germany in WWII) to far left (such as the [[PKK]] and [[Japanese Red Army|JRA]]).

According to [[Bruce Hoffman]] and [[Assaf Moghadam]], suicide attacks distinguish themselves from other terror attacks due to their heightened lethality and destructiveness.<ref name="Hoffman-6-2003" /><ref name="Moghadam 2006" /> Perpetrators benefit from the ability to conceal weapons and make last-minute adjustments, and there is no need for escape plans or rescue teams. There is also no need to conceal their identities.{{citation needed| reason = do any sources on the page "no need to conceal their identities" ? |date=June 2025}} In the case of suicide bombings, they do not require remote or delayed detonation.<ref name="Hoffman-6-2003" /> Although they accounted for only 4% of all "terrorist attacks" between 1981 and 2006, they resulted in 32% of terrorism-related deaths at 14,599 deaths. 90% of these attacks occurred in [[Afghanistan]], [[Iraq]], [[Palestine]], [[Pakistan]], and [[Sri Lanka]].{{verify source |date=May 2025}}<ref name="What Motivates" >{{cite web|url= http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/what-motivates-suicide-bombers-0|title= What Motivates the Suicide Bombers?|last= Hassan|first= Riaz|work= YaleGlobal|publisher= Yale Center for the Study of Globalization|date= September 3, 2009|access-date= November 2, 2012|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131004215906/http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/what-motivates-suicide-bombers-0|archive-date= October 4, 2013}}</ref> By mid-2015, approximately three-quarters of all suicide attacks occurred in just three countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.<ref name="CPOST-LOC-total">(Click "Search Database", then under "filter by", click "location". Afghanistan (1059) Iraq (1938) and Pakistan (490) have a total 3487 attacks out of a total of 4620 worldwide.){{cite web|title= Year: 1982–2015. Group|url= http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|website= Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism Suicide Attack Database|access-date= 2015-11-20|archive-date= 2016-01-24|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160124204240/http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1}}</ref>

William Hutchinson describes suicide attacks as a weapon of [[psychological warfare]]<ref>{{cite journal|last= Hutchinson|first= W.|title= The systemic roots of suicide bombing|journal= Systems Research and Behavioral Science|volume= 24|issue= 2|date= March 2007|pages= 191–200|doi=10.1002/sres.824}}</ref> aimed at instilling fear in the target population,<ref>{{cite web|last1= de la Corte Ibáñez|first1= Luis|title= The Social Psychology of Suicide Terrorism|url= http://www.ict.org.il/Article/1233/The-Social-Psychology-of-Suicide-Terrorism|website= ict.org.il|publisher= International Institute for Counter Terrorism|access-date= 22 December 2015|date= 19 October 2014|quote= Terrorism involves the use of force or violence in order to instill fear as a means of coercing individuals or groups to change their political or social positions which means that social influence is the ultimate goal of terrorism. Obviously we could say the same about suicide terrorism. […] An alternative perspective views terrorism, including suicide terrorism, as tool: a means to an end and a tactic of warfare that anyone could use.|archive-date= 21 January 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220121085918/https://www.ict.org.il/Article/1233/The-Social-Psychology-of-Suicide-Terrorism}}</ref> undermining areas where [[the public]] feels secure, and eroding the "fabric of trust that holds societies together." This weapon is further used to demonstrate the lengths perpetrators will go to achieve their goals.<ref name="Hoffman-6-2003" /> Motivations for suicide attackers vary. {{lang|ja-Latn|[[Kamikaze]]}} pilots acted under military orders, while other attacks have been driven by [[Religious terrorism|religious]] or [[Nationalism|nationalist]] purposes. According to analyst [[Robert Pape]], prior to 2003, most attacks targeted occupying forces.{{efn| For example, 90% of attacks in Iraq before the [[Iraqi conflict (2003–present)|civil war]] started in 2003 aimed at forcing out occupying forces. Pape's tabulation of suicide attacks runs from 1980 to early 2004 in [[Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism|''Dying to Win'']], and to 2009 in [[Robert Pape #Cutting the Fuse |''Cutting the Fuse'']].{{citation needed| reason = "Cutting the Fuse" is mentioned multiple times, but never properly cited, please add it to "Sources" section. |date=May 2025}}{{sfn|Pape|2005}} }} According to American-French anthropologist [[Scott Atran]], from 2000 to 2004, the ideology of Islamist [[Istishhad|martyrdom]] played a predominant role in motivating the majority of bombers.<ref>{{harvnb|Atran|2006|p=127}}: "During 2000–2004, there were 472 suicide attacks in 22 countries, killing more than 7,000 and wounding tens of thousands. Most have been carried out by Islamist groups claiming religious motivation, also known as jihadis. Rand Corp. vice president and terrorism analyst [[Bruce Hoffman]] has found that 80 percent of suicide attacks since 1968 occurred after the September 11 attacks, with jihadis representing 31 of the 35 responsible groups."</ref>

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== Definition and terminology ==
[[File:MokoShurai.jpg |thumb|upright| ''Kamikaze'' was a reference to the two typhoons that sank or dispersed [[Kublai Khan]]'s [[Mongol invasions of Japan|invading Mongol fleets]].]]
{{see also
| Propaganda #Wartime
| dehumanisation
}}{{ anchor |Terminology|definition}}

=== Suicide bombing ===

The term "{{ visible anchor |suicide bombing}}" dates back to at least 1940 when a ''[[New York Times]]'' article mentioned the term in relation to German tactics.<ref>"Germans Maintain Losing Airline Inside Panama Canal Defense Zone: Service in Ecuador Keeps 20 Pilots for Two Planes—Company Called Center of Fifth Column Activities New Route Planned Value in Case of War". Russell B. Porter,''[[New York Times]]'', August 10, 1940, p. 6 </ref>{{Primary source inline|Need a reference for it being one of the first uses, not just to the article itself|date=March 2025}} Less than two years later, the ''New York Times'' referred to a Japanese {{lang|ja-Latn|[[kamikaze]]}} attempt on an American carrier as a "suicide bombing".<ref>"CARRIER ROUTS FOE: Ships' and Planes' Fire Foils Japanese Raid Near Gilbert Isles A FIGHTER PILOT DOWNS 6 Fleet Force Escapes Damage, but Loses Two Aircraft – Suicide Dive Balked NAVY IN ACTION IN THE FAR PACIFIC U.S. CARRIER ROUTS 18 BOMBERS IN RAID DOWNED SIX PLANES", ''[[New York Times]]'', 4 March 1942, ROBERT F. WHITNEY.</ref> In 1945, ''[[The Times of London]]'' referred to a {{lang|ja-Latn|kamikaze}} plane as a "suicide-bomb".<ref>''The Times'' (London), August 21, 1945, p. 6 </ref> Two years later, it referred to a new British pilot-less, radio-controlled rocket missile as originally designed "as a counter-measure to the Japanese 'suicide-bomber'."<ref>''The Times'' (London), April 15, 1947, p. 2, (quote) "Designed originally as a counter-measure to the Japanese 'suicide-bomber,' it is now a potent weapon for defence or offence" (The quotes are in the original and suggest that the phrase was an existing one) {{verify source | reason = please add a link to an archive or a modern source quoting this |date=June 2025}} </ref>

=== Kamikaze ===
{{further| Kamikaze #Definition and origin }}
{{see also| Kamikaze (typhoon) }}

[[Kamikaze]] was a term initially used for Japanese suicide pilots in [[World War II]], but is occasionally used in other contexts. Some reports at the time labelled the 1972 [[Lod Airport massacre]] in Palestine by the [[Japanese Red Army]] (JRA) a "[[Kamikaze]]" attack, but others have criticized the label, including the surviving attacker's interpreter.<ref name="col rep" /><ref name="Satoshi Sugawara" /> The Kamakazi were a [[Japanese Special Attack Units |unit of suicide bombers]] in for the [[Empire of Japan]] in WWII, which had a very different ideology to the JRA. Researchers from [[Duke University]] described the JRA's motives as "rooted in anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, and anti-capitalism".<ref name="Global Revolution" /> In more recent reports the 1972 JRA attack on Lod airport is described in modern terms such as "suicide attack" and "suicide mission", even when referring to the attacker who survived.<ref name="F24 KO SA" /><ref name="Ynet KO SA" /> All three militants intended to die, but one survived.<ref name="Ynet KO SA" /><ref name="F24 KO SA" /> He confessed and hoped to be quickly executed, but some attribute this to retrospective "[[survivor guilt]]".<ref name="Okamoto hope" />

{{Terrorism|by ideology}}
=== Labeling as {{ visible anchor |terrorism}} ===
{{further| definition of terrorism | war on terror }}

Suicide attacks include both "suicide terrorism" and attacks targeting combatants. "[[Terrorism]]" is often defined as any action "intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants" for the purpose of intimidation.<ref> Definition given by [[Kofi Annan]], March 2005 in the UN General Assembly, while Secretary General of the UN.{{cite web |title=Story: UN reform |url=https://www.un.org/unifeed/script.asp?scriptId=73 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070427012107/http://www.un.org/unifeed/script.asp?scriptId=73 |archive-date=2007-04-27 |access-date=2010-02-24 | publisher = United Nations }}</ref> This definition is often not used consistently, even those claiming to define terrorism this way sometimes describe attacks on their own military as "terrorism", while attacks on civilians by allied state actors are almost never called terrorism.<ref name="disap" />

An alternative definition provided by [[Jason Burke]], a journalist who has lived among Islamic militants, suggests that most define terrorism as "the use or threat of serious violence" to advance some kind of "cause", stressing that terrorism is a tactic.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jason Burke|title=Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-_FJFFrit8AC|access-date=August 19, 2012|year=2004|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-85043-666-9|pages=1–24 (22)}}</ref> This definition is often referred to by the euphemism "[[political violence]]".{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}

Academic [[Fred Halliday]] has written that assigning the descriptor of "terrorist" or "terrorism" to the actions of a group is a tactic used by states to deny "legitimacy" and "rights to protest and rebel".<ref>F. Halliday. (2002). ''Two Hours that Shook the World: September 11, 2001&nbsp;– Causes and Consequences'', Saqi; {{ISBN|0-86356-382-1}}, pp. 70–71 </ref>
Israeli diplomacy has been very influential in defining terrorism as a concept.<ref name="disap" /><ref name="word terrorism" >{{cite web | url = https://mondoweiss.net/2014/08/israels-terrorism-ideological/ | title = Israel's decades-long effort to turn the word 'terrorism' into an ideological weapon | date=26 August 2014 }}</ref><ref name="Salon terror" >{{cite web | url = https://www.salon.com/2010/03/14/brulin/ | title = Salon Radio: Remi Brulin Transcript | date = 14 March 2010 }}</ref>
This was largely led by [[Menachem Begin]], who himself has been labelled as a terrorist leader, as commander of the [[Irgun]] militant group before Israel was recognized as a nation state by [[Western power]]s.<ref name="word terrorism" /><ref name="Salon terror" />

=== Labeling as {{ visible anchor |suicide}} ===
{{further
| proxy bomb
| suicide terminology
| suicide legislation
| religious views on suicide
}} {{Suicide sidebar|In warfare}}

The definition of "[[suicide]]" in this context is also a matter of debate. Suicide terrorism itself has been defined by [[Ami Pedahzur]], a professor at the [[University of Haifa]],<ref name="Professor Pedahzur" >{{cite web |title=Prof. Ami Pedahzur |website=[[University of Haifa]] |date=29 November 2023 |url=https://marsci.haifa.ac.il/en/ami-pedahzur/ |access-date=2025-06-08 |last1=Kupperman |first1=Mili }} {{date missing |date=June 2025}}</ref> as "violent actions perpetrated by people who are aware that the odds they will return alive are close to zero".{{sfn |Pedahzur |2004 |p=8}} Other sources exclude from their work "suicidal" or high risk attacks, such as the [[Lod Airport massacre]] or a "reckless charge in battle".<ref name="ICT-STDC" /><ref name="Dodd" >{{cite book|last1=Dodd|first1=Henry|title=A short history of suicide bombing|date=23 Aug 2013|publisher=Action on Armed Violence|url=https://aoav.org.uk/2013/a-short-history-of-suicide-bombings/|access-date=6 October 2015|quote=First of all let's be clear what kind of attacks we are talking about. Suicide bombings are those that involve the deliberate death of the perpetrator. We're not just talking about a reckless charge in battle. The focus is on those attacks where the perpetrator functions as a sophisticated guidance system for the weapon. They function as part human and part weapon. In this way they are suicide attacks rather than suicidal attacks.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140125110530/https://aoav.org.uk/2013/a-short-history-of-suicide-bombings/ | archive-date = 25 January 2014 }}</ref>
Despite the [[Lod Airport massacre]] being explicitly planned as a suicide attack, and modern mainstream Israeli and international media describing the event as a "suicide attack" or "[[suicide mission]]".<ref name="F24 KO SA" /><ref name="Ynet KO SA" />
[[Yoram Schweitzer]], from the [[International Institute for Counter-Terrorism]] (an Israel think tank),
focuses only on true "suicide attacks", where the odds of survival are not "close to zero" but required to be zero, because "the perpetrator's ensured death is a precondition for the success of his mission".<ref name="ICT-STDC">{{cite web|author=Yoram Schweitzer|author-link=Yoram Schweitzer|url=http://www.ict.org.il/Articles/tabid/66/Articlsid/42/Default.aspx|title=Suicide Terrorism: Development and Characteristics|publisher=[[International Institute for Counter-Terrorism]]|date=April 21, 2000|access-date=March 22, 2015|quote=... a very specific kind of attack. It does not deal with the very high-risk terror operations that leave only little chance of survival to their perpetrators. Such attacks as the [[Japanese Red Army]]'s (JRA) attack at Lod airport in 1972, [[Abu Nidal]]'s attack on a synagogue in Istanbul in 1986 and the [[PFLP-GC]] hand-glider attack on an army barracks in [[Kiryat Shmona]] in 1987 fall outside the scope of this paper. Also excluded were the self-inflicted deaths of members of terrorist organization … a politically motivated violent attack perpetrated by a self-aware individual (or individuals) who actively and purposely causes his own death through blowing himself up along with his chosen target … the perpetrator's ensured death is a precondition for the success of his mission."|archive-date=May 27, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527191602/http://www.ict.org.il/Articles/tabid/66/Articlsid/42/Default.aspx}}</ref>
The narrower definition would also exclude the actions of groups such as those by the [[#Hashishiyeen |Hashishiyeen]], by the [[#Moro juramentado |Moro juramentado]], and in [[#Aceh in WWII |Aceh during WWII]] (see below).

Also excluded from the{{who| reason = whose definition is this? |date=March 2025}} definition are "[[proxy bomb]]ings", which may have political goals and be designed to look like a suicide bombing. The difference is that the "proxy" is forced to carry a bomb under threat, or the proxy isn't fully aware that they are delivering a bomb that will kill them. The definition also generally excludes [[mass shooting]]s in which the perpetrators commit suicide, as the shooter committing suicide is a separate act from shooting their victims. Further distinction is how many of such shootings are driven by personal and psychological reasons, rather than political, social or religious motives, such as the [[Columbine High School massacre]], the [[Virginia Tech shooting]] or [[Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting]] in the U.S.<ref name="LANKFORD-17-12-2012">{{cite news|last1=Lankford|first1=Adam|title=What Drives Suicidal Mass Killers|newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/opinion/what-drives-suicidal-mass-killers.html|access-date=7 October 2015|agency=The New York Times|date=17 December 2012|quote=For years, the conventional wisdom has been that suicide terrorists are rational political actors, while suicidal rampage shooters are mentally disturbed loners. But the two groups have far more in common than has been recognized … Although suicide terrorists may share the same beliefs as the organizations whose propaganda they spout, they are primarily motivated by the desire to kill and be killed&nbsp;— just like most rampage shooters.}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2023}}

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

=== {{ visible anchor |Religious terminology}} for attackers and victims ===
{{further
| Religious views on suicide
| Islamic view of death #Suicide
| Jewish views on suicide
| Abrahamic religions
}}
{{further| topic = other war martyrs | 21 Coptic Martyrs of Libya | Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War | Chahid (Algeria) }}

All [[Abrahamic religions]] forbid suicide.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Romain | first1=Jonathan | last2=Carey | first2=George | title = There is nothing holy about agony: religious people and leaders support assisted dying too | journal = [[The BMJ]] | date = 8 September 2021 | pages=n2094 |doi=10.1136/bmj.n2094| pmid=34497050 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2019-10/abrahamic-religions-life-euthanasia-suicide-palliative.html | title=Abrahamic religions: No to euthanasia, assisted suicide, yes to palliative care - Vatican News | date=28 October 2019 }}</ref>
Suicide and suicide attempts have been decriminalised in most of the western world, but remain criminalised in some countries, such as Afghanistan,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.suicide-decrim.network/countries/afghanistan | title=Afghanistan - Decriminalise Suicide Worldwide }}</ref> Nigeria,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://theconversation.com/nigerias-law-makes-it-a-crime-to-attempt-suicide-there-are-better-ways-to-prevent-tragedy-169398 | title=Nigeria's law makes it a crime to attempt suicide – there are better ways to prevent tragedy | date=9 October 2021 }}</ref> Palestine,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://mondoweiss.net/2023/10/suicide-in-gaza/ | title=Suicide in Gaza | date=5 October 2023 }}</ref> and others.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.suicide-decrim.network/countries | title=Countries - Decriminalise Suicide Worldwide }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/sep/09/suicide-still-treated-as-a-in-at-least-20-countries-report-finds | title=Suicide still treated as a crime in at least 20 countries, report finds | work=The Guardian | date=9 September 2021 | last1=Johnson | first1=Sarah }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://unitedgmh.org/suicide-decriminalisation/ | title=Suicide Decriminalisation }}</ref>
Terminology relating to this sin or crime is used by Jews, Christians, and Muslims to condemn suicide attackers (see also above), different terminology is usually used to describe self sacrifice that they believe is justified, including actions their enemies label suicide attacks (see below).<!-- if this connecting sentence needs citations, please copy from above and below -->

==== Martyrdom ====
{{further
| Martyrdom
| Martyrdom in Islam
| Martyrdom in Judaism
| Self-sacrifice in Jewish law
| Islamophobic trope
}}
[[File: Benzir Bhutto's death place mark.JPG |thumb|right|300px| Plaque marking the location of the [[assassination of Benazir Bhutto]], written in [[Urdu]]. Translation: ''Place of Martyrdom, Ms. Benazir Bhutto martyred''. [[Benazir Bhutto]] was killed by a suicide terrorist in 2007.{{efn|name=Benazir}}]]

Among Muslims, secular Arabs, and related cultures, the term martyr or ''shaheed'' has a broad meaning and can refer to leaders who have been assassinated or executed, civilian casualties of war, and combatants who did not intend to die.<ref name="shahid in Israel" />

Victims of suicide bombings and the bombers are both commonly referred to as martyrs, or using other religious terminology.
Some Arabic speaking militant groups and their supporters call suicide attacks "martyrdom operations" ({{langx|ar| للعمليات الاستشهادية | aleamaliaat alistishhadia }}).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aja.ws/ug04zv|title=هل يعيد "الطوفان" الزخم للعمليات الاستشهادية؟ &#124; الجزيرة نت}}</ref> This is a reference to the concept of [[Martyrdom #Islam |Martyrdom in Islam]] ({{langx|ar|استشهاد|[[istishhad]]|link=no}}). They call the suicide attacker {{lang|ar-Latn|[[shahid]]}} ({{Plural abbr}} {{lang|ar-Latn|shuhada}}; witness or martyr).{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} The idea being that the attacker died to testify his faith in God, such as while waging {{lang|ar-Latn|[[jihad|jihad bis saif]]}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|[[jihad]]}} by the sword).{{citation needed| reason = current source only includes one or two words of this |date=March 2025}} The term "suicide" is avoided because [[Islamic views on suicide |Islam forbids]] taking one's own life in most circumstances. The concept of martyrdom is broad including people who died in plagues and women who died in childbirth, as well as fallen combatants who did not intend to die.<ref>{{cite web | last1=كساب | first1=أكرم | date = 30 May 2022 | title = شهيد الإسلام في القرآن والسنة (1) | script-title = ar: شهيد الإسلام في القرآن والسنة (1) | trans-title = Martyr of Islam in the Qur'an and Sunnah (1) | url = https://www.aljazeera.net/blogs/2022/5/30/%D8%B4%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%A2%D9%86-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%86%D8%A9-1 | website = الجزيرة نت www.aljazeera.net | publisher = Al Jazeera |language=ar}}</ref> According to Israeli academic [[Assaf Moghadam]], the term "martyrdom operation" has been used by [[Hamas]], [[Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades]], [[Fatah]]'s [[Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades]], and other Palestinian factions.<ref name="Moghadam-16">{{cite book|last1=Moghadam|first1=Assaf| author-link =Assaf Moghadam | editor1-last=Pedahzur | editor1-first=Ami | title = Root Causes of Suicide Terrorism: The Globalization of Martyrdom |date=2006| publisher=[[Routledge]] | location = Oxon, NY | isbn=978-0-415-77029-3 |page=16| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aAGTAgAAQBAJ&q=use+the+term++MARTYRDOM+OPERATIONS&pg=PA16|access-date=6 October 2015 | quote = … "martyrdom operations". This term is used by radical Islamist organizations such as Al Qaeda or Hamas, but also by more secular organizations such as Fatah-Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades or the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine }}</ref>{{verify source | reason = someone with access to the book please confirm the start of the quote |date=May 2025}}

Victims of attacks are also referred to as martyrs.<!-- probably also used by Copts, other Christians, and Shia who have been attacked by ISIS -->{{example needed| date = June 2025}}
When [[Palestinian suicide attacks #ISIS |an ISIS suicide bomber]] blew himself up at [[Rafah crossing]] in 2017, he was described as a suicide bomber (فجر انتحاري), not amartyr. The border guard who was killed attempting to stop him crossing into Egypt, a member of Hamas' Qassam Brigades, was described as a martyr ({{langx|ar|الشهيد نضال الجعفري|al-Shaheed Nidal al-Jaafari}}) and his death was described as martyrdom ({{langx|ar|استشهاد|[[Istishhad]]}}, {{langx|ar|استشهاد نضال جمعة||Martyrdom of Nidal al-Jaafari}}).<ref name="shms Rafah bomber family" /><ref name="paldf" >{{cite news| script-title = ar: انتحاري من داعش يفجر نفسه قرب رفح واستشهاد عنصر أمني | url = https://palestine.paldf.net/news/2017/8/17/-انتحاري-من-داعش-يفجر-نفسه-قرب-رفح-واستشهاد-عنصر-امني | date = 2017-08-17 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20250615181042/https://palestine.paldf.net/news/2017/8/17/-%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%B4-%D9%8A%D9%81%D8%AC%D8%B1-%D9%86%D9%81%D8%B3%D9%87-%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%A8-%D8%B1%D9%81%D8%AD-%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B4%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%B5%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%86%D9%8A | archive-date = 2025-06-15 }}</ref> This language was used by Palestinian media, some international media, and even the bomber's family. His family condemned him publicly, describing his actions as unpatriotic and criminal, and announced they would not be holding funeral services for him.<ref name="alquds Rafah martyr" /><ref name="shms Rafah bomber family" >{{cite web | url=https://shms.ps/p/61559 | title=خبر عائلة كلاب تتبرأ من نجلها الذي فجر نفسه بقوة أمنية بغزة | date=17 August 2017 }}</ref> Gaza's clans referred to the bombing as suicide terrorism ({{langx|ar|العمل الإرهابي الانتحاري}}).<ref name="alquds Rafah martyr" >{{cite news| trans-title = A suicide bomber detonates himself near a Qassam Brigades patrol on the Egyptian border. | script-title = ar: انتحاري يفجر نفسه بدورية من «كتائب القسام» على الحدود المصرية | url = https://www.alquds.co.uk/انتحاري-يفجر-نفسه-بدورية-من-كتائب-ا/ | date = 17 August 2017 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20250615183542/https://www.alquds.co.uk/%EF%BB%BF%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D9%8A%D9%81%D8%AC%D8%B1-%D9%86%D9%81%D8%B3%D9%87-%D8%A8%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%85%D9%86-%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%A8-%D8%A7/ | archive-date = 2025-06-15 }}</ref>

Progressive Muslims also use the word martyr to refer to the victims of suicide terrorism, such as, [[Benazir Bhutto]], leader of the [[Pakistan People's Party]], who was [[assassination of Benazir Bhutto | assassinated in 2007]] by a teenage Islamic extremist.<ref name = "injury" /><ref name = "exhumation" />
Many things in Pakistan, mostly related to education, were named or renamed in her honour, referring to her by the title ''"shaheed"''<!-- keep the Pakistani spelling! do not change to Israeli spelling! --> (martyr).{{efn|name=Benazir}}

[[File:064.The Death of Samson.jpg |thumb|
Illustration of Samson by [[Gustave Doré]], the [[Gustave Doré's illustrations for La Grande Bible de Tours |illustrator of the Bible]] that was handed to the British prison guard by an [[Etzel (Irgun Tzvai-Leumi) |Etzel]] militant who [[#1947 |blew himself up moments later]], shortly before midnight on 21 April 1947.<ref name="MR 27 July 2017" />]]
==== Biblical references ====
{{see also
| Judges 16
| Samson
| Saul
| Daniel 5
}}

In Israel, acts of self sacrifice in battle are referred to by quoting [[Samson]]'s words, , from [[Judges 16]]:30 ({{langx|he|תמות נפשי עם פלשתים||let me die with the Philistines}}, [[Biblical Hebrew |Biblical]] {{langx|he|תָּמוֹת נַפְשִׁי עִם-פְּלִשְׁתִּים||}}).<ref name="kikar" /><ref name="yNet Ali" /><ref name="Judges 16" /> The same biblical quote is used in both praise and criticism of this approach to warfare.<ref name="kikar" /><ref name="rev globes" /> Prior to Israel, the story of Samson's suicide was used by two of the [[Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine |anti-British]] pre-state militant groups to refer to [[#1947 |premeditated plans]].<ref name="Sheleg 2007" /> One leader claimed that two militants who blew themselves up had not committed suicide, as such, due to [[Olei Hagardom |allegedly mitigating circumstances]].<ref name="murdered by the British" /> Their modern critics claim the situation itself was largely self inflicted.<ref name="study unit" />
Some within Israel view the Samson in a very negative light.{{sfn|Rinon|2024}}

People from Christian backgrounds, or within majority-Christian communities, have carried out suicide attacks [[Ignacy Hryniewiecki |in Eastern Europe]], [[Sana'a Mehaidli |Lebanon]], [[Bath School disaster |the United States]], [[#1905 in New Zealand |New Zealand]], and elsewhere (see below), but have not used religious language to explain or justify their actions. They have been part of secular movements, or have been [[#personal |isolated incidents]] that the attacker did not explain at length.{{citation needed| reason = copy sources from below |date=May 2025}}

=== Redefining as homicide or genocide ===
{{further| definition of genocide | list of genocides | stages of genocide | dehumanization | DARVO }}{{anchor|Genocide|Homicide|genocide|homicide}}

{{ anchor |genocide bombing}}"{{ visible anchor |Genocide bombing}}" was coined in 2002 by [[Irwin Cotler]], a member of the Canadian parliament, in an effort to focus attention on the [[accusation in a mirror|alleged intention]]  of [[Definition of genocide |Genocide]] by militant [[Palestinian genocide accusation |Palestinians]] in their calls to "[[Calls for the destruction of Israel|wipe Israel off the map]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hfienberg.com/kesher/2002/06/genocide-bombing-two-months-after.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090628154737/http://www.hfienberg.com/kesher/2002/06/genocide-bombing-two-months-after.html|archive-date=2009-06-28|title=Kesher Talk|date=2002-06-24|access-date=2006-05-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20040423-081806-2252r.htm|title=Targets|work=Washington Times|date=April 23, 2004|access-date=May 13, 2006}}</ref>

Some efforts have been made to replace the term "suicide bombing" with {{ anchor |Homicide bombing}}<!-- case sensitive -->"{{ visible anchor |homicide bombing}}", based on the assertion that "[[homicide]]" is a more apt adjective than "suicide" since the primary purpose of such a bombing is to kill other people. The only major media outlets to use it were the [[Fox News Channel]] and the ''[[New York Post]]'', both of which are owned by [[News Corporation (1980–2013)|News Corporation]] and have since mostly abandoned the term.<ref>{{Cite book|author=L. Khan|title=A Theory of International Terrorism: Understanding Islamic Militancy|publisher=Brill Academic Publishers|location=Boston, MA|year=2006|isbn=978-90-04-15207-6|pages=97–98}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Tim Grieve |url=http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/10/31/fox/index.html |title=Fox News: The inside story |work=Salon.com |date=October 31, 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204084700/http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/10/31/fox/index.html |archive-date=February 4, 2011}}</</ref> Robert Goldney, a professor emeritus at the [[University of Adelaide]], has argued in favor of the term "homicide bomber". Goldney argued that studies show that there is little in common between people who blow themselves up intending to kill as many people as possible in the process and actual suicide victims.<ref>{{cite web|title=Why it's 'homicide bomber' not 'suicide bomber'|url=http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-09-homicide-bomber-suicide.html|website=medicalxpress.com|access-date=2016-02-09}}</ref> Fox News producer Dennis Murray argued that a suicidal act should be reserved for a person who does something to kill only themselves. [[CNN]] producer Christa Robinson argued that the term "homicide bomber" was not specific enough, stating that "A homicide bomber could refer to someone planting a bomb in a trash can".<ref name="Moghadam-16" /><ref>{{cite news|author=Peter Johnson|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/access/113807077.html?dids=113807077:113807077&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+15%2C+2002&author=Peter+Johnson&pub=USA+TODAY&desc=Homicide+bomber+vs.+suicide+bomber&pqatl=google|title=Homicide bomber vs. suicide bomber|access-date=March 22, 2015|work=[[USA Today]]|archive-date=November 5, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105042612/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/access/113807077.html?dids=113807077:113807077&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+15,+2002&author=Peter+Johnson&pub=USA+TODAY&desc=Homicide+bomber+vs.+suicide+bomber&pqatl=google}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2002/04/13/annan-wants-peacekeepers-in-middle-east/ | title=Annan wants peacekeepers in Middle East}}</ref>

In German-speaking areas the term "[[sacrifice]] bombing" ({{langx|de|Opferanschlag}}) was proposed in 2012 by German scholar [[Arata Takeda]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Takeda, Arata|title=Das regressive Menschenopfer: Vom eigentlichen Skandalon des gegenwärtigen Terrorismus|url=http://www.humanistische-union.de/fileadmin/hu_upload/media/vorg2/vorg197_Takeda.pdf|year=2012 |journal=Vorgänge&nbsp;– Zeitschrift für Bürgerrechte und Gesellschaftspolitik|volume=51|issue=1|pages=116–129}}</ref>
This is different to the German word used by Nazi Germany to refer to self sacrifice atacks.

=== Military and militant uses of suicide that are not attacks ===
{{about| intentional use of suicide | unsuccessfully avoided deaths | suicide in the military }}
{{See also
| suicide mission
| hunger strikes
| self-immolation <!-- "suicide protest" currently redirects to "self-immolation" -->
| mass suicide
}}
{{Multiple image
| header       = [[Romas Kalanta]]
| total_width  = 380
| direction    = horizontal
| image_gap    = 
| align        = right
| alt1         = 
| image1       = Laisvės al. Romas kalanta.JPG
| caption1     = Memorial to Kalanta in [[Kaunas]] in the place of his self-immolation, it says: ''Romas Kalanta 1972.''
| alt2         = 
| image2       = Romas Kalanta 2022 stamp of Lithuania.jpg
| caption2     = Kalanta on a 2022 stamp of [[Lithuania]]
| footer_align = 
| footer       = 
}}

==== Suicide protests ====

[[Romas Kalanta]] was a 19-year-old Lithuanian student who self-immolated in 1972 to protest against the [[Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic|Soviet regime in Lithuania]], sparking the [[1972 unrest in Lithuania]]; another 13 people self-immolated in that same year.<ref>{{cite web | last1 = Anušauskas | first1 = Arvydas | author-link1=Arvydas Anušauskas | title = KGB reakcija į 1972 m. įvykius | url = http://www.genocid.lt/Leidyba/13/aarvydas.htm |access-date=10 August 2023 | website = [[Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania]] }}</ref>{{additional citation needed|date=May 2025}}

==== Hunger strikes ====
{{main
| hunger strikes
| self-immolation <!-- "suicide protest" currently redirects to "self-immolation" -->
}}
{{further
| Hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners of Israel | label1 = Palestine
| Hunger strikes in Turkey (2016–2017) | label2 = Turkey (2016–2017)
| Guantanamo Bay hunger strikes | label3 = Guantanamo Bay
| Suffragette bombing and arson campaign | label4 = Suffragette
| Hunger Strike Medal
}}

[[Hunger strikes]] are another use of self harm, and actual or potential suicide, that is used by some militant groups.{{example needed|s| date = June 2025}}

==== Self-sacrifice to prevent other casualties ====

<!-- copied from his page, needs to be a bit shorter -->During the [[2006 Lebanon War]], Major [[Roi Klein]] and his unit took part in the [[Battle of Bint Jbeil]]. During a [[Hezbollah]] ambush, a [[hand grenade]] was thrown over the wall that was between Hezbollah militants and Klein and his unit.  Klein jumped on the live grenade and muffled the explosion with his body. The soldiers reported that Klein recited the Jewish prayer, [[Shema Yisrael]], as he jumped on the grenade. After the grenade exploded and critically wounded him, he reported his own death, yelling "Klein's dead, Klein's dead" over the radio. In the following minutes, as he lay dying, he ordered soldiers who came to administer first aid and evacuate him to focus on Lieutenant Amichai Merhavia, another soldier who had been hit (and later died also) instead. He then handed over his encoded radio to another officer, who took command of the force, and died.<ref>{{Citation | title = Israel Ha'yom | url = http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=33543}}.</ref><ref name= "Lubotzky">{{cite book |last= Lubotzky |first= Asael |author-link=Asael Lubotzky |title= [[From the Wilderness and Lebanon]] |year=2016 |publisher= [[Koren Publishers Jerusalem]] |isbn=978-1-59264-417-9|pages= 56–57}}</ref><ref name="JP071709">{{cite news|url=http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=148998|title=Family of Golani hero may lose home|last=Lazaroff|first=Tovah|author2=Dan Izenberg |date=July 17, 2009|work=[[The Jerusalem Post]]|accessdate=22 February 2012}}</ref><ref name="Meotti">{{cite book|last=Meotti|first=Giulio |title=A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel's Victims of Terrorism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gqMVfx6dCJkC&q=Roi+Klein&pg=PA386|year=2010|publisher=[[Encounter Books]]|isbn=978-1-59403-477-0|page=386}}</ref><ref name="Katz">{{cite book|last=Katz|first=Yossi|title=A Voice Called: Stories of Jewish Heroism|url=https://archive.org/details/voicecalledstori0000katz|url-access=registration|quote=Roi Klein.|year=2010|publisher=[[Gefen Publishing House]]|isbn=978-965-229-480-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/voicecalledstori0000katz/page/193 193]}}</ref> According to ''The Telegraph'' he yelled "Long live Israel",<ref name="TDT080907">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1559875/Israel-honours-bravery-of-armed-forces.html|title=Israel honours bravery of armed forces|last=Butcher|first=Tom|date=9 August 2007|publisher=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|accessdate=22 February 2012}}</ref> although this was probably a misinterpretation of "Shema Yisrael" (שמע ישראל).<ref> https://www.makorrishon.co.il/nrg/online/1/ART1/619/039.html </ref>

==== Preventing capture ====
{{further
| Islamic views on prisoners of war
| Hannibal Directive | label2 = Israeli military protocol
}}

Other than as a way to cause enemy casualties, another situation in which some militaries and related bodies (such as intelligence agencies) encourage their own members to commit suicide is too avoid being captured by the enemy. The concept also often includes the use of intentional [[friendly fire]].<ref name="rev globes" /> Either to avoid disclose of military secrets, [[Hannibal Directive |avoid]] the [[Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange |need for a prisoner exchange]], or for more intangible ideological motives.<ref name="Masada" /> Individuals are encouraged by a perception that capture is a fate worse than death, and the likelihood of [[torture]] is strongly emphasised in internal propaganda. Sometimes, to the point that even civilians embrace the concept of dying (or killing people on their own side) to avoid capture.<ref>{{cite news | title = Australian man feared he'd have to do the unimaginable if Hamas found his children | url = https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/australian-man-feared-hed-have-to-do-the-unimaginable-if-hamas-found-his-children/gix186lxt | work = [[SBS News]] | date = 13 October 2023 | quote = (Anthony lived) … with his Israeli-Australian wife and their three children aged under four lived in Kibbutz Be-eri … he thought he would have to make an impossible decision if Hamas fighters found them. "The only thing going through my mind was, 'If they come in here, I'm going to have to kill my kids myself'," Anthony said … "I didn't want my kids to become prisoners, so I thought I was going to have to kill my kids." Scores of Israelis and others were taken to Gaza as hostages… |language=en}}</ref>

The militaries of nation states often avoid equipping their troops with any means specifically designed to facilitate suicide, but sometimes imply that soldiers are obliged to resort to extreme measures to avoid capture including taking their own lives, or killing their comrades, with whatever means are available.<ref name="glo" /> Hand grenades have been repeatedly used or suggested.<ref name="tr 49008320" /><ref name="glo" >{{cite news| title = תמות נפשי עם פלישתים | url=https://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1000419938 | work= [[Globes (newspaper)]] | date = 26 January 2009 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20250312182614/https://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1000419938 | archive-date = 2025-03-12 }}</ref>

In 1952, three Chinese soldiers reportedly killed themselves with hand grenades to avoid capture.<ref name="tr 49008320" >{{cite news | title = Death Before Capture | url = https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/49008320 | work = West Australian | date = 2 January 1952 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250604121741/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/49008320 | archive-date = 2025-06-04 | quote = Three Chinese soldiers blew them selves to pieces with gren ades to escape capture by Allied troops who surround ed their platoon near Kum song on the Korean central front on New Year's Eve. The Chinese clasped grenades to their stomachs and pulled the pins before they could be captured. }}</ref>{{additional citation needed | reason = there is another example from China and multiple stories about North Koreans |date=June 2025}}

==== Sicarii in the First Jewish–Roman War ====
{{further| First Jewish–Roman War | Siege of Masada | Masada myth }}

The [[Sicarii]] Jewish sect are sometimes described as carrying out "suicidal" attacks against their enemies.
Riaz Hassan said that the first-century AD Jewish [[Sicarii]] sect carried out "suicidal missions to kill" [[Hellenized Jews]] they considered immoral collaborators.<ref name="Masada" /> However, they are more known for having committed [[mass suicide]], and family murders, to avoid capture during the [[Siege of Masada]].{{sfn|Rinon|2024}}
The [[Masada myth |story of Masada]] is prominent in Israeli culture.{{sfn|Rinon|2024}}

{{ anchor |History}}
== Before World War I ==
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 6588 Ashdod.JPG |thumb|300px| Statue of [[Samson]] in [[Ashdod]], Israel.]]
{{History of war}}

=== Samson's destruction of the temple ===

The story of Samson's suicide in the [[Book of Judges]] in the [[Hebrew Bible]] is sometimes described as the first suicide attack.<ref name="alarabiya sam" /> The phrase he says as he dies is usually translated to English as "Let me die with the Philistines".<ref name="Judges 16" /> In Arabic the expression is phrased differently, “Against me and my enemies, O Lord!” ({{langx|ar|عليّ وعلى أعدائي يا رب}}).<ref name="alarabiya sam" />

=== Hashishiyeen ===
The {{lang|ar-Latn|Hashishiyeen}} ([[Order of Assassins]]) were from a sect of [[Ismaili]] [[Shi'a Muslims]]. They assassinated two [[Caliphs]], as well as many viziers, Sultans, and Crusade leaders over 300 years,{{when|date=May 2025}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Acosta|first1=Benjamin|editor1-last=Stanton|editor1-first=Andrea L.|editor2-last=Ramsamy|editor2-first=Edward|title=Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia|date=2012|publisher=Sage|page=21|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GtCL2OYsH6wC&q=history+Hashishin+killed+caliphs&pg=PA21|access-date=13 October 2015|chapter=Assassins|isbn=978-1-4129-8176-7}}</ref> before being annihilated by [[Mongols|Mongol]] invaders. {{lang|ar-Latn|Hashishiyeen}} were known for targeting the powerful, using the dagger as a weapon (rather than something safer for the assassin such as a crossbow), and for not attempting to escape after completing their killing.<ref name="ARSI-BL-xii" />

=== Switzerland ===
[[Arnold von Winkelried]] was considered a hero in the Swiss struggle for independence for sacrificing himself at the [[Battle of Sempach]] in 1386.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

=== {{ visible anchor |India}} (1780) ===
{{further| female suicide bombers }}

In 1780, an [[Indian people|Indian]] woman named [[Kuyili]] applied [[ghee]] and oil onto her body and set herself ablaze. She then jumped into an armoury of the [[East India Company]], causing it to explode. This suicide attack helped to secure victory for her queen, [[Velu Nachiyar]], in the battle.<ref>{{cite news |title=Tamil Nadu to build memorial for freedom fighter Kuyili |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Tamil-Nadu-to-build-memorial-for-freedom-fighter-Kuyili/articleshow/20075937.cms |access-date=13 August 2014|newspaper=Times of india |date=16 May 2013 |location=Chennai, India}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Velu Nachiyar & Kuyili: The Women Who Took Down The British 85 Yrs Before 1857! |url=https://www.thebetterindia.com/157316/news-india-independence-women-fighters-british-raj/ |access-date=28 August 2018|location=Chennai, India}}</ref><ref name="queen-velu" >{{cite web| url = http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/remembering-queen-velu-nachiyar-sivagangai-first-queen-fight-british-55163 | title = Remembering Queen Velu Nachiyar of Sivagangai, the first queen to fight the British | work = The News Minute | date = 3 January 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Of woman power and Tamizh glory|url=https://www.news18.com/news/india/of-woman-power-and-tamizh-glory-375394.html|newspaper=IBN Live|date=14 June 2011|location=Chennai, India}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Veeramangai Velu Nachiyar|url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/cover/veeramangai-velu-nachiyar/article26016399.ece|newspaper=The Hindu Business Line|date=18 January 2019|location=Chennai, India}}</ref>

=== 17th century {{ visible anchor |Dutch}} ===

In the late 17th century, [[Qing dynasty|Qing]] official [[Yu Yonghe]] recorded that injured [[Dutch East India Company|Dutch]] soldiers fighting against [[Koxinga]]'s forces for control of Taiwan in 1661 would use gunpowder to blow up both themselves and their opponents rather than be taken prisoner.<ref>{{cite book|last=Yu|first=Yonghe|title=Small Sea Travel Diaries|year=2004|publisher=SMC Publishing Inc.|isbn=978-957-638-629-9|page=196|editor=Macabe Keliher}}</ref> However, Yu may have confused such suicidal tactics with the standard Dutch military practice of undermining and blowing up overrun positions, which almost cost Koxinga his life during the [[Siege of Fort Zeelandia]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=William|last1=Campbell|author-link=William Campbell (missionary)|title=Formosa under the Dutch: Described from Contemporary Records|year=1903|publisher=Kegan Paul|lccn=04007338|oclc=66707733|url=https://archive.org/details/formosaunderdut01campgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/formosaunderdut01campgoog/page/n468 452]|access-date=April 18, 2015}}</ref>

On 5 February 1831, during the [[Belgian Revolution]], a gale blew a Dutch [[gunboat]] under the command of [[Jan van Speyk]] into the quay of the [[port of Antwerp]]. As the ship was stormed by Belgians, van Speyk refused to surrender, instead igniting the ship's gunpowder with either his gun or cigar, blowing up the ship. The explosion killed 28 out of the 31 crewmen and an unknown number of Belgians.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

=== {{ visible anchor |Aceh war}} (1873–1904) ===
{{see also| Suicide mission | Suicide attack #Aceh in WWII | Martyrdom in Islam #Aceh | Suicide attack #Dutch }}

Muslim [[Acehnese people|Acehnese]] from the [[Aceh Sultanate]] performed suicide attacks known as ''parang-sabil'' against Dutch invaders during the [[Aceh War]] (1873–1904).{{ verify source | reason = are they suicude attacks or just very high risk? if just high risk, don't remove this section, but clarify please. |date=June 2025}} It was considered part of personal {{lang|ar-Latn|[[jihad]]}} in Islam. The Dutch called it {{lang|nl|Atjèh-moord}}, ({{Literal translation}} Aceh murder).<ref>{{cite book|title=Atjeh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JXMeAAAAIAAJ&q=Atj%C3%A8h-moord&pg=PA613|year=1878|publisher=Brill Archive|pages=613–|id=GGKEY:JD7T75Q7T5G}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=J. Kreemer|title=Atjèh: algemeen samenvattend overzicht van land en volk van Atjèh en onderhoorigheden|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kzosAAAAMAAJ&q=Atj%C3%A8h-moord|year=1923|publisher=E.J. Brill|page=613}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/6515130|title=A Crazy State: Violence, Psychiatry, and Colonialism in Aceh, Indonesia, ca. 1910–1942|first=David |last=Kloos|journal=Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde|doi=10.1163/22134379-17001003 |access-date=12 December 2016}}</ref> The Acehnese work of literature the ''[[Hikayat]] Perang Sabil'' provided the background and reasoning for the {{lang|nl|Atjèh-moord}} as Acehnese suicide attacks upon the Dutch.<ref>{{cite book |author1=John Braithwaite |author2=Valerie Braithwaite |author3=Michael Cookson |author4=Leah Dunn |title=Anomie and Violence: Non-truth and Reconciliation in Indonesian Peacebuilding |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OrdM8X7CBTAC&q=Acehmord&pg=PA347 |year=2010 |publisher=ANU E Press |isbn=978-1-921666-23-0 |page=347ff}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://press.anu.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/ch0617.pdf |title=6. Aceh |publisher=Press.anu.edu.au |year=2010 |page=343 |doi=10.22459/AV.03.2010 |access-date=2016-01-17|last1=Braithwaite |first1=John |last2=Braithwaite |first2=Valerie |last3=Cookson |first3=Michael |last4=Dunn |first4=Leah |isbn=978-1-921666-22-3 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/18313161 |title=Anomie and Violence: Non-Truth and Reconciliation in Indonesian Peacebuilding &#124; John Braithwaite |website=Academia.edu |date=1970-01-01 |access-date=2016-01-17|last1=Braithwaite |first1=John}}</ref>{{verify source | reason = suicide or high risk? |date=June 2025}} The Indonesian translations of the Dutch terms are {{lang|id|Aceh bodoh}}, {{lang|id|Aceh pungo}}, {{lang|id|Aceh gila}}, or {{lang|id|Aceh mord}}.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Sayed Mudhahar Ahmad|author2=Aceh Selatan (Indonesia)|title=Ketika pala mulai berbunga: seraut wajah Aceh Selatan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I65yAAAAMAAJ&q=Mereka+ini+terkenal+memiliki+keberanian+luar+biasa+dan+tidak+takut+maut.+Orang-orang+semacam+itu+dijuluki+Belanda+sebagai+pengidap+penyakit+Aceh+mord+%28Aceh+gila%29,+yang+dalam+bahasa+Aceh+disebut+Aceh+pungo+%28Aceh+bodoh%29.+Belanda+...|year=1992|publisher=Pemda Aceh Selatan|page=131}}</ref>

=== Moro juramentado ===
{{further|Juramentado|Martyrdom in Islam #Juramentado | suicide mission }}{{ anchor |Moro|juramentado|Juramentado|Moro juramentado|Moro Juramentado}}<!-- case sensitive according to the template help page -->

[[Juramentado]], in [[Philippines|Philippine]] [[History of the Philippines|history]], refers to a male [[Moro people|Moro]] [[Swordsman#Filipino|swordsman]] (from the [[Tausug people|Tausug]] tribe of [[Sulu Islands|Sulu]]) who attacked and killed targeted occupying and invading [[police]] and [[soldier]]s. Death was expected, and considered [[martyrdom]], undertaken as a form of [[jihad]].<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Luga |first=Alan R. |title=Muslim Insurgency in Mindanao, Philippines |date=2002 |degree=Master's |publisher=United States Army Command and General Staff College |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA406868 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416191700/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA406868 |url-status=live |archive-date=April 16, 2021 |page=10 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Turbiville |first=Graham H. Jr. |title=Bearers of the Sword Radical Islam, Philippines Insurgency, and Regional Stability |url=http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/sword.htm  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621224454/http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/sword.htm |archive-date=June 21, 2012 |access-date=June 21, 2012 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=McKenna |first=Thomas M. |date=1994 |title=The Defiant Periphery: Routes of Iranun Resistance in the Philippines |journal=Social Analysis: The International Journal of Social and Cultural Practice |language=en |volume=35 |issue=35 |pages=11–27 |jstor=23171780}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Philippines |url=http://dogbrothers.com/phpBB2/index.php?action=printpage;topic=10.0 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408231454/http://dogbrothers.com/phpBB2/index.php?action=printpage;topic=10.0 |archive-date=April 8, 2016 |website=dogbrothers.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Russel |first=Florence Kimball |url=https://103.55.108.22:8080/get/pdf/1220 |title=A Woman's Journey Through the Philippines: On a Cable Ship That Linked Together the Strange Lands Seen En Route |publisher=L. C. Page & Company |year=1907 |location=Boston |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413094754/http://103.55.108.22:8080/get/pdf/1220 |archive-date=April 13, 2016}}</ref>{{verify source | reason = copied from Juramentado page |date=April 2025}}

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

The Moro ({{langx|es|juramentados}}) launched suicide{{verify source |date=April 2025}} attacks on the Japanese, Spanish, Americans and Filipinos, but did not attack the non-Muslim Chinese as the Chinese were not considered enemies of the Moro people.<ref>{{cite book|title=Filipino Heritage: The Spanish Colonial period (Late 19th Century): The awakening|first=Alfredo R.|last=Roces|volume=7 of Filipino Heritage: The Making of a Nation, Alfredo R. Roces|publisher=Lahing Pilipino Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xMkRAQAAMAAJ&q=The+juram+en+tado+'+s+act+was+occasionally+performed+against+the+Japanese+during+World+War+II%C2%97+and+the+Japanese+were+clearly+defined+as+enemies.+The+juramentado+never+went+after+Chinese+residents+in+spite+of+the+fact+that+the+Chinese+were+non-Muslims|page=1702|access-date=March 10, 2014|year=1978}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Filipino Heritage: The Spanish colonial period (late 19th century)|first=Alfredo R.|last=Roces|volume=7 of Filipino Heritage: The Making of a Nation|year=1978|publisher=Lahing (Manila)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=akNvAAAAMAAJ&q=The+juramentado's+act+was+occasionally+performed+against+the+Japanese+during+World+War+1+1+—and+the+Japanese+were+clearly+defined+as+enemies.+The+juramentado+never+went+after+Chinese+residents+in+spite+of+the+fact+that+the+Chinese+were+non-Muslim.|page=1702|access-date=March 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Filipinas, Volume 11, Issues 117–128|year=2002|publisher=Filipinas Pub.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wvkMAQAAMAAJ&q=The+juramentado's+act+was+occasionally+performed+against+the+Japanese+during+World+War+1+1+—and+the+Japanese+were+clearly+defined+as+enemies.+The+juramentado+never+went+after+Chinese+residents+in+spite+of+the+fact+that+the+Chinese+were+non-Muslim.|access-date=March 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Understanding Islam and Muslims in the Philippines|editor-first=Peter G.|editor-last= Gowing|edition=illustrated|year=1988|publisher= New Day Publishers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-H25AAAAIAAJ&q=In+spite+of+the+individual+nature+of+many+juramentados,+the+fact+remains+that+it+was+never+done+against+members+of+ethnic+groups+who+were+not+considered+military+and+religious+enemies+of+the+Tausug.+Chinese,+for+example,+in+spite+of+their+status+as+non-+Moslems,+were+seldom+molested.+As+one+man+put+it,+%22There+is+no+sense+killing+the+Chinese|page=56|isbn=978-971-10-0386-9|access-date=March 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kiefer|first1= Th. M.|title=Parrang Sabbil: Ritual suicide among the Tausug of Jolo|journal=Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde|date=January 1, 1973|volume=129|issue=1|page=111|doi=10.1163/22134379-90002734|doi-access=free}}</ref> The Japanese responded to these suicide attacks by massacring all known family members and relatives of the attackers.<ref>{{cite book|title=Midnight on Mindanao: Wartime Remembances 1945–1946|year=2008|publisher=iUniverse|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6T39iCmUzMkC&pg=PA47|pages=47–48|isbn=978-0-595-63260-2|access-date=March 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>[https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADB068659.pdf Schmidt, 1982] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111203932/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADB068659%26amp;Location=U2%26amp;doc=GetTRDoc.pdf |date=2011-11-11}}, p. 161. </ref>

According to historian [[Stephan Dale]], the Moro were not the only culture who carried out suicide attacks "in their fight against Western hegemony and colonial rule". In the 18th century, suicide tactics were used on the Malabar coast of southwestern India, and in [[Aceh]] in Northern [[Sumatra]] as well.<ref name="ICT-STDC" /><ref>"[https://www.jstor.org/stable/174087?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Religious Suicide in Islamic Asia]," Stephen Fredric Dale, Department of History Ohio State University.</ref>

=== Ignaty Grinevitsky (1881) and others in Russia ===

A Russian man named [[Ignaty Grinevitsky]] is sometimes described as the first known suicide bomber.<ref name="lewis-2013" >{{cite journal|last1=Lewis|first1=Jeffrey William|title=The Human Use of Human Beings: A Brief History of Suicide Bombing|journal=Origins|date=April 2013|volume=6|issue=7|url=http://origins.osu.edu/article/human-use-human-beings-brief-history-suicide-bombing|access-date=21 October 2015}}</ref> The invention of dynamite in the 1860s presented revolutionary and terrorist groups in Europe with a weapon nearly 20 times more powerful than gunpowder. However, using dynamite required overcoming the technical challenges of detonating it at the right time. One solution was to use a human trigger, which was the technique used to assassinate Tsar [[Alexander II of Russia]] in 1881.<ref name="lewis-2013" /><ref>{{cite book|last1=Naimark|first1=Norman M.|author-link1=Norman M. Naimark|chapter=Terrorism and the fall of Imperial Russia|editor1-last=Rapoport|editor1-first=David C.|editor1-link=David C. Rapoport|title=Terrorism: The first or anarchist wave|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rjSjAUcH0vsC|series=Terrorism: Critical Concepts in Political Science|volume=1|publisher=Taylor & Francis|date=2006|page=280|isbn=978-0-415-31651-4|access-date=2015-04-17|quote=[…] [[Sophia Perovskaya|Sof'ia Perovskaia]] […] and [[Andrei Zhelyabov|Andrei Zheliabov]] carefully planned another attempt on the life of the Tsar. […] They rented a shop on Malaia Sadovaia, a street frequented by the Tsar, and dug a tunnel from the basement under the street. Zheliabov was arrested on 27 February 1881, and Perovskaia took charge of the assassination, planned for 1 March. This time they got their prey: the explosives placed under the street failed to detonate, but the second of two suicide bombers fatally wounded the Tsar.}}</ref> A would-be suicide bomber killed Russian Minister of the Interior [[Vyacheslav von Plehve]], in St Petersburg in 1904, but survived with major injuries.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Julicher|first1=Peter|title=Renegades, Rebels and Rogues Under the Tsars|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cnN_x0ssn40C|publisher=McFarland|date=2003|page=229|isbn=978-0-7864-1612-7|access-date=2015-04-17|quote=…[[Boris Savinkov]] recruited Yegor Sazonov, a former medical student, who was willing to sacrifice himself to accomplish the deed. […] On July 15 (28), 1904, a determined Sazonov ran through a crowd of onlookers and positioned himself in front of the approaching carriage just in time. When it swerved to avoid him, he threw his bomb through the side window. The explosion killed Plehve and left Sazonov badly injured.}}</ref>

== 20th century {{ visible anchor |personal}} disputes ==
{{further| mass murder | domestic violence }}
{{see also
| Suicide attack #Pilot suicides | label1 = Pilot suicides (below)
| Suicide attack #Individuals after 1980  | label2 = Individuals after 1980 (below)
}}

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

=== 1927 Bath School bombings in Michigan, USA ===
{{main| Bath School disaster | Andrew Kehoe | Car bomb #History }}{{anchor|USA 1927}}

The first reported car bombing was the [[Bath School disaster |Bath School bombings]] in [[Michigan]], USA in 1927. Multiple separate explosions on the same day killed 45 people, including the bomber, and half of a school was destroyed.{{according to whom|date=October 2024}}
The bombings were all carried out by [[Andrew Kehoe]], motivated by a [[#personal grievances|personal grievance]].
His death was possibly an intentional [[suicide]], but the cause of the explosion was a gun shot that might not have been intended to set off the load. The explosion itself did not seem to form part of a suicide attack on a specific planned target other than possibly himself and his truck.
The explosives in his truck detonated when he saw two men nearby had a gun, after he set off multiple other bombs.<ref name="Inquest Page 326"/><ref name="Inquest Page 352"/>
The explosion may have been set off indirectly by him firing his own gun at the men.<ref name="Inquest Winchester"/><ref name="Jones PhD Dissertation Page 1"/>
Most of the deaths were caused by the earlier bombs.<ref name="ellsworth ch 2"/><ref name="Burcar"/>

=== 1953 in West Virginia ===
{{anchor|USA 1953}}

In January 1953 at a magistrate's Court in [[West Virginia]], 47-year-old Donzel McCray "turned himself into a {{ visible anchor |human bomb}}" with sticks of dynamite strapped to his waist.<ref name="tr 194082329" />{{efn| also reported as "Don" or "McGray".<ref name="tr 130926746" /><ref name="Don Mccray Zanesville" >{{cite news| title = Zanesville Times Recorder Archives, Jan 13, 1953, p. 1 | url = https://newspaperarchive.com/zanesville-times-recorder-jan-13-1953-p-1/ | work = Zanesville Times Recorder in Zanesville, Ohio | via = newspaperarchive.com | date = 13 January 1953 | location = Zanesville, Ohio | quote = Don Mccray turned himself into a human bomb setting off several sticks of dynamite strapped to his Waist. }} {{verify source| reason = somebody with access to the site please confirm quote and check for other details |date=June 2025}}</ref>  }} He killed himself and injured his ex-wife and her lawyer.<ref name="tr 130926746" >{{cite news| title = MAN BECOMES HUMAN BOMB | url = https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/130926746 | newspaper = "The News" (Adelaide, SA) | date = 13 January 1953 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250601065717/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/130926746 | archive-date = 2025-06-01 | quote = Donzel McCray, 47 }} (The paper is simply called "The News": {{cite news| title = News (Adelaide, SA: 1923 - 1954) | url = https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/title/461 | website = trove.nla.gov.au | publisher = [[National Library of Australia]] | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250601071519/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/title/461 | archive-date = 2025-06-01 | quote = On 6 Feb. 1954 the title changed to 'The S.A. Sunday mail'.}})</ref><ref name="tr 175351189" >{{cite news | title = BLEW HIMSELF UP | url = https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/175351189 | newspaper = [[Uralla Times]] | date = 15 January 1953 | location = Australia | quote = Weston, West 'Virginia, a man turned himself into a human bomb, setting off several sticks of dynamite strapped to his waist. He was blown to pieces and his divorced wife and her lawyer were critically injured. The incident occurred at a court. The magistrate was thrown from his chair, and another lawyer knocked unconscious. }}</ref><ref name="tr 161665690" >{{cite web | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/161665690 | title=Man Became Human Bomb | work=National Advocate | date=14 January 1953 }}</ref><ref name="tr 194082329">{{cite news| title = HUMAN BOMB | url = https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/194082329 | work = [[Daily Examiner]] | via = trove.nla.gov.au | date = 14 January 1953 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250601080014/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/194082329 | archive-date = 2025-06-01 | quote = Police said the incident took place a few minutes after Donzel McGray, 47, and jobless, walked into a Magistrate's office. "Look what's going to happen here", he said as he unbuttoned his coat to display five or six sticks of explosive.}}</ref> The couple had six children and had divorced the previous September.<ref name="Nassau" >{{cite news| title = 'Human Bomb' Kills Self, Wounds Wife | url = https://www.nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=ndrs19530113-01.1.2&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------- | work = Nassau Daily Review-Star | date = 13 January 1953 | quote = WESTON, W. Va. "Look what's going to happen here", said Donzel Raymond McCray as he dis-played five or six sticks of dyna-mite strapped to his waist. As five persons, including his divorced wife, looked on in horror yesterday, he touched two small batteries to wires extending from the dynamite. McCray was blown to bits and his wife and her lawyer, Charles N. Bland, were critically injured. The other three witnesses Magistrate W. S. Fults, Linn Mapel Brannon, and 78-year-old J. N. Osborn escaped serious injury. McCray, 47, and his wife were divorced last September. They had six children. }}</ref>

== During the World Wars and interwar period ==
{{see also| World War I | interwar period | World War II }}{{ anchor |World War One|WWI|WW1}}

=== Spanish civil war ===
{{ campaignbox Spanish Civil War }}{{main| Spanish Civil War }}{{ see also |Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War}}

There are a few reports of suicide bombers during the civil war in the 1930s.<ref name="first shahid" />{{additional citation needed | reason = needs the Al-Ittihad article, but I'm having trouble finding it. Ambiguity in Arabic to Hebrew to English means this might be mistranslated |date=June 2025}}

=== Chinese suicide squads ===
[[File: Chinese infantry soldier preparing a suicide vest of Model 24 hand grenades at the Battle of Taierzhuang against Japanese Tanks.jpg|thumb|right|Chinese suicide bomber putting on a 24 hand grenade-explosive vest prior to attack on Japanese tanks at the [[Battle of Taierzhuang]].]]
{{ further | Martyrdom in Chinese culture }}
{{ see also | Suicide attack #Korean War }}

During the [[Xinhai Revolution]] and the [[Warlord Era]] of the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]], "[[National Revolutionary Army #Dare to Die Corps |Dare to Die Corps]]" ({{zh|s=敢死队|t=敢死隊|p=gǎnsǐduì|w=Kan-ssu-tui|first=t}}) or "suicide squads".<ref name="China multi ref" > "[[National Revolutionary Army #Dare to Die Corps |Dare to Die Corps]]" in the [[Xinhai Revolution]] and the [[Warlord Era]]:
* {{cite web|author=LEAR|title=词语"敢死队"的解释汉典zdic.net|url=http://www.zdic.net/c/2/2B/67998.htm|access-date=November 7, 2014}}
* {{cite web|title=敢死队的意思,含义,拼音,读音-敢死队的汉语词典解释|url=http://cidian.xpcha.com/9e7g5dxwqhb.html|access-date=November 7, 2014|archive-date=August 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811163900/http://cidian.xpcha.com/9e7g5dxwqhb.html}}
* {{cite web|title=6. 敢死队 gǎnsǐduì|url=http://today.zgxc.org.cn/content.php?typeid=5&id=28788|access-date=12 December 2016|archive-date=21 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821183438/http://today.zgxc.org.cn/content.php?typeid=5&id=28788}}
* {{cite web|author=海词词典|title=dare-to-die ship|url=http://dict.cn/dare-to-die%20ship|access-date=November 7, 2014}}
* {{cite web|title=a dare-to-die corps 的翻译是:敢死队是什么意思?英文翻译中文,中文|url=http://www.woyaofanyi.com/translate_1554934.html|access-date=November 7, 2014|archive-date=October 30, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030000518/http://www.woyaofanyi.com/translate_1554934.html}}
* {{cite web|title=敢死队, a dare-to-die corps,音标,读音,翻译,英文例句,英语词典|url=http://www.dictall.com/indu53/67/5367062169C.htm|access-date=12 December 2016}} * {{cite web|title=a dare-to-die corps – 中英文在线翻译英语在线翻译|url=http://www.haodic.com/query/a%20dare-to-die%20corps|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030125833/http://www.haodic.com/query/a%20dare-to-die%20corps/|archive-date=October 30, 2014|access-date=November 7, 2014}}
* {{cite web|title=敢死队 – 汉语词典 – 911查询|url=http://cidian.911cha.com/MWNjbG8=.html|access-date=November 7, 2014}}
* {{cite book|author1=Carl Glick|author2=Sheng hwa Hong|title=Swords of silence: Chinese secret societies, past and present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tP_NAAAAMAAJ&q=dare+to+die+swords+china|year=1947|publisher=Whittlesey House}}
</ref> were frequently used by Chinese armies.{{verify source| reason = is this supported by previous source? |date=May 2025}} China deployed these suicide units against the Japanese during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]].{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

In the Xinhai Revolution, many Chinese revolutionaries became martyrs in battle. "Dare to Die" student corps were founded for student revolutionaries wanting to fight against Qing dynasty rule. [[Sun Yat-sen]] and [[Huang Xing]] promoted the Dare to Die Corps. Huang said, "We must die, so let us die bravely."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=51Fpis0D1v0C&q=dare+to+die+china&pg=PA263|title=Sun Yat Sen and the Chinese Republic|first=Aul|last=Linebarger|year=2008|publisher=READ BOOKS|page=263|isbn=978-1-4437-2438-8|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref> Suicide squads were formed by Chinese students going into battle, knowing that they would be killed fighting against overwhelming odds.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B_UnAAAAMAAJ&q=This+is+a+suicide+squad%3B+don't+come+with+us,+please.%22|title=China yearbook|year=1975|publisher=China Pub. Co.|page=657|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref>

The [[72 Martyrs of Huanghuagang]] died in the uprising that began the [[Wuchang Uprising]]. They were recognized as heroes and martyrs by the [[Kuomintang]] party and the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5bpAAAAIAAJ&q=Yu+Pei-lun+martyr|title=Selected speeches and messages|first=Kai-shek|last=Chiang|year=1968|publisher=Government Information Office|page=21|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref> The martyrs in the Dare to Die Corps who died in battle wrote letters to family members before heading off to certain death. The {{lang|zh-Latn|[[Second Guangzhou Uprising#Memorials|Huanghuakang]]|italics=no}} was built as a monument to the 72 martyrs.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hOeeAAAAIAAJ&q=dare+to+die+china&pg=PA93|title=Huang Hsing and the Chinese revolution|author=Chün-tu Hsüeh|year=1961|publisher=Stanford University Press|page=93}}</ref> The deaths of the revolutionaries helped the establishment of the Republic of China, overthrowing the Qing dynasty.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wm7VAAAAMAAJ&q=It+was+the+martyrs%27+blood+which+paved+the+way+for+the+founding+of+the+Republic+of+China|title=Free China review, Volume 14|year=1964|publisher=W.Y. Tsao|page=88|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref> Other Dare to Die student corps in the Xinhai revolution were led by students who later became major military leaders in Republic of China, like [[Chiang Kai-shek]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=03catqbPCmgC&q=dare+to+die+china&pg=PA23|title=The generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the struggle for modern China, Volume 39|first=Jay|last=Taylor|year=2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|page=23|isbn=978-0-674-03338-2|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref> and [[Huang Shaoxiong]] with the Muslim [[Bai Chongxi]] against Qing dynasty forces.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r3AJFusMHJwC&q=pai+ch'ung-hsi+dare+to+die&pg=PA51|title=Biographical dictionary of Republican China, Volume 3|first1=Howard L.|last1=Boorman|first2=Richard C.|last2=Howard|first3=Joseph K. H.|last3=Cheng|year=1979|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York City|isbn=978-0-231-08957-9|page=51|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asia.ubc.ca/page/6/?profile_cct_group|title=Yip So Man Wat Memorial Lectures, 2013|author=Pai Hsien-yung|date=2013|website=UBC DEPARTMENT OF ASIAN STUDIES|page=6|access-date=August 3, 2014}}</ref>
Dare to Die troops were used by warlords.<ref>{{cite book|title=Chinese Civil War Armies 1911–49|first=Philip S.|last=Jowett|volume=306|edition=illustrated|year=1997|publisher=Osprey Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ck6IumJLdPkC&pg=PA14|page=14|isbn=978-1-85532-665-1|access-date=April 24, 2014}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> The Kuomintang used one to put down an insurrection in Canton.<ref>{{cite news|title=PART ONE CHIANG VERSUS COMMUNISM: HIS PERSONAL ACCOUNT|author=Chiang Kai-shek|newspaper=LIFE Magazine Vol. 42, No. 25|date=June 24, 1957|page=147|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IT8EAAAAMBAJ&q=dare+to+die+china&pg=PA147|access-date=July 28, 2010|author-link=Chiang Kai-shek}}</ref> Many women joined them in addition to men to achieve martyrdom against China's opponents.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cZ3V9umMPf8C&q=Other+women+in+joining+the+%22Dare+to+Die%22+Regiments+later+on,+saw+her+as+a+model+for+rebellion+against+the+enemies+of+China.+One+of+her+last+poems+was+particularly+well-known+because+it+combined+the+themes+of+her|title=Women in modern China: transition, revolution, and contemporary times|author=Marjorie Wall Bingham, Susan Hill Gross|year=1980|publisher=Glenhurst Publications|page=34|isbn=978-0-86596-028-2|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YYpIAAAAYAAJ&q=dare+to+die+china&pg=PA79|title=China review, Volume 1|year=1921|publisher=China Trade Bureau, Inc.|page=79|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref> They were known as {{lang|zh|烈士}} ({{transliteration|zh|lit-she}}; martyrs) after accomplishing their mission.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Carl Glick|author2=Sheng hwa Hong|title=Swords of silence: Chinese secret societies, past and present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tP_NAAAAMAAJ&q=Lit-she|year=1947|publisher=Whittlesey House|page=202}}</ref>

During the [[January 28 Incident]] (28 January – 3 March 1932),<!-- year? --> a Dare to Die squad struck against the Japanese.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

Suicide bombing was also used against the Japanese. A Dare to Die Corps was effectively used against Japanese units at the [[Battle of Taierzhuang]]. They used swords<ref name="Fenby 2003" >{{cite book|title=Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the China He Lost|first=Jonathan|last=Fenby|year=2003|publisher=Simon and Schuster|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PNJOxyP0SqEC&q=dare+to+die+corps+swords&pg=PA319|pages=318–319|isbn=978-0-7432-3144-2|access-date=April 24, 2014}}</ref><ref name="Fenby 2008" >{{cite book|author=Jonathan Fenby|title=Modern China: The Fall and Rise of a Great Power, 1850 to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8VIUAQAAIAAJ&q=dare+to+die+taierzhuang+swords|date=24 June 2008|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-166116-7|page=284}}</ref> and wore suicide vests made out of grenades.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://war.163.com/15/0427/09/AO6TATTL00014OMD.html |title=台儿庄巷战:长官电令有敢退过河者 杀无赦_网易军事<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2016-03-16 |archive-date=2018-06-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619140144/http://war.163.com/15/0427/09/AO6TATTL00014OMD.html }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.88p4.com/2015/04/27/taierzhuang-street-fighting-executive-power-to-make-those-who-have-dared-to-retreat-across-the-river-unforgiven-124486.html|title=Taierzhuang street fighting: Executive power to make those who have dared to retreat across the river Unforgiven – Netease International News|first=Bun|last=Wong|access-date=12 December 2016|archive-date=20 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020023846/http://www.88p4.com/2015/04/27/taierzhuang-street-fighting-executive-power-to-make-those-who-have-dared-to-retreat-across-the-river-unforgiven-124486.html}}</ref>

A Chinese soldier detonated a grenade vest and killed 20 Japanese soldiers at [[Defense of Sihang Warehouse#29 October|Sihang Warehouse]]. Chinese troops [[Explosive belt|strapped explosives such as grenade packs or dynamite to their bodies]] and threw themselves under Japanese tanks to blow them up.<ref>{{Cite thesis|last=Schaedler|first=Luc|title=Angry Monk: Reflections on Tibet: Literary, Historical, and Oral Sources for a Documentary Film|type=Thesis Presented to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Zurich For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy|url=http://www.zora.uzh.ch/17710/3/Angry_Monk_Dissertation.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140719204815/http://www.zora.uzh.ch/17710/3/Angry_Monk_Dissertation.pdf|archive-date=2014-07-19|year=2007|page=518|publisher=University of Zurich, Faculty of Arts|access-date=April 24, 2014}}</ref> This tactic was used during the [[Battle of Shanghai]], to stop a Japanese tank column when an attacker exploded himself beneath the lead tank,<ref>{{cite book | title = Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze | first=Peter | last=Harmsen |edition=illustrated|year=2013|publisher=Casemate| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jpPUAgAAQBAJ&q=shanghai+grenade+tanks+japanese&pg=PT127 |page=112|isbn=978-1-61200-167-8| access-date = 24 April 2014}}</ref> and at the Battle of Taierzhuang where Chinese troops with dynamite and grenades strapped to themselves rushed Japanese tanks and blew themselves up,<ref>{{cite book|title=China Condensed: 5000 Years of History & Culture|first=Siew Chey|last=Ong|edition=illustrated|year=2005|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bt7q8hfiZ4gC&q=taierzhuang+suicide+bombers&pg=PA94|page=94|isbn=978-981-261-067-6|access-date=24 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://numistamp.com/Taierzhuang-1938----Stalingrad-1942-(Page-1).php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709203351/http://numistamp.com/Taierzhuang-1938----Stalingrad-1942-%28Page-1%29.php|archive-date=2011-07-09|title=Taierzhuang 1938&nbsp;– Stalingrad 1942|last1=Olsen|first1=Lance|date=2012|via=Numistamp|publisher=Clear Mind Publishing|isbn=978-0-9838435-9-7|access-date=April 24, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://grognard.com/info1/stormover.pdf|title=STORM OVER TAIERZHUANG 1938 PLAYER's AID SHEET|website=grognard.com|access-date=24 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=China Condensed: 5,000 Years of History & Culture|author=Ong Siew Chey|year=2011|publisher=Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd|isbn=978-981-4312-99-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LdKIAAAAQBAJ&q=japanese+tanks+suicide+bombers&pg=PA79|page=79|edition=reprint|access-date=April 24, 2014}}</ref> in one incident obliterating four Japanese tanks with grenade bundles.<ref>{{cite book|title=International Press Correspondence, Volume 18|year=1938|publisher=Richard Neumann|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nRlWAAAAYAAJ&q=Thus,+for+instance,+a+group+of+Chinese+soldiers,+in+spite+of+heavy+artillery+fire,+attacked+a+column+of+Japanese+tanks+with+hand-grenades+and+destroyed+four+tanks,+sacrificing+their+own+lives.+These+courageous+soldiers+thereby+opened+the+way+for+the+Chinese+troops.+According+to+reports+from+Shanghai,+the+losses+of+the+Japanese+army+operating+on+the+eastern+front+amounted+in+February+to+5,400+killed+and+12,700+wounded.+400+oificers+were+killed+or+wounded.+In+March+35+Japanese|page=447|access-date=April 24, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The people's war|first=Israel|last=Epstein|year=1939|publisher=V. Gollancz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TevqAAAAIAAJ&q=The+men+in+the+trenches+waited+till+the+tanks+came+close,+then+jumped+out+and+threw+bundles+of+hand-+grenades+under+their+wheels+and+into+their+ports.+Four+tanks+were+destroyed,+neatly+pierced+by+anti-tank+shells,+and+nine+others+were|page=172|access-date=April 24, 2014}}</ref>

During the {{nowrap|1946{{endash}}1950}} [[Chinese Communist Revolution|Communist Revolution]], [[Coolie|coolies]] fighting the Communists formed Dare to Die Corps to fight for their organizations.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/revolutiontradit00lieb|url-access=registration|quote=dare to die china.|title=Revolution and tradition in Tientsin, 1949–1952|author=Kenneth Lieberthal|year=1980|publisher=Stanford University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/revolutiontradit00lieb/page/67 67]|isbn=978-0-8047-1044-2|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref> During the [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre]], protesting students also formed "Dare to Die Corps" to risk their lives defending the protest leaders.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ng0Rr7FsoqQC&q=dare+to+die+china&pg=PA237|title=Red China Blues: My Long March from Mao to Now|author=Jan Wong|year=1997|publisher=Random House, Inc.|page=237|isbn=978-0-385-25639-1|access-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref>

They also reportedly used suicide to avoid being captured.<ref name="tr 229868436" >{{cite news| title = Chinese Die But Not Surrender | location = London | newspaper = The Sun (Sydney, NSW: 1910 - 1954) | url = https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/229868436 | via = Trove | date = 23 Mar 1938 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250604140615/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/229868436 | archive-date = 2025-06-04 | quote = Refusing to surrender, 300 Chinese troops blew them selves to pieces with their own hand-grenades. The self-sacrifice occurred, says a Shanghai message, in the Tientsin-Pukow conflict. The 300 were part of the army of 200,000 who are attempting to stem the Japanese advance. These men swore to die, rather than to surrender their positions. Their commander, Wang Ming-chang, blew out his brains with his revolver after sustaining a wound in the stomach. His men followed him with grenade. |language=en}}</ref>

==={{ visible anchor |Donkeys}} in Palestine (1939)===
{{ further | Zionist political violence | List of Irgun attacks | label2 = Irgun attacks | List of massacres in Mandatory Palestine | label3 = massacres in Palestine (1918–1948) | Car bomb #History | label4 = history of car bombs | Suicide attack #1947 | label5 = suicides (below) }}
The [[Irgun]] militant group in [[Mandatory Palestine |Palestine]] abused donkeys as suicide bombers in two attacks on [[Haifa]] vegetable market in [[1939 in Palestine |1939]]. They used [[animal-borne bomb attacks #Palestine |unwitting donkeys]] loaded with explosives to attack the market, one attack killed 78 people, the other killed 21 people and wounded 24.<ref>{{cite news | url= https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2016-05-02/ty-article/.premium/hamas-and-the-irgun-how-dare-i-compare-the-two/0000017f-f73b-d318-afff-f77bf9ca0000 | title= Hamas and the Irgun? How Dare I Compare the Two... For all those suffering from voluntary amnesia here are just a few of the Irgun's highlights of Hamas-worthy violence. | last1= Michael | first1= B. | newspaper = [[Haaretz]] | quote = June 20, 1939 — A particularly successful shuk operation: 78 Arabs (and a donkey) are murdered in an explosion in a Haifa open-air market. The donkey was booby-trapped. }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last1= Persico | first1= Tomer | title= Would pre-state Zionist militias be terrorists by today's standards? | url= https://www.972mag.com/would-pre-state-zionist-militias-be-terrorists-by-todays-standards/ | work= [[+972 Magazine]] | date= 10 April 2016 | quote= In July 1939, Jewish militants placed bombs at Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem's Old City, killing five Arabs and wounding 14. That same month, a donkey mounted with explosives killed 21 Arabs and wounded 24 in the Haifa vegetable market. }}</ref>
The previous year the Irgun attacked the market with a [[car bomb]], killing 35 Arab civilians and wounding 70.<ref>{{cite web | title = Notorious massacres of Palestinians between 1937 & 1948 | url = https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/downloads/factsheets/ZionistMassacres_1937-48.pdf | website = [[Middle East Monitor]] | quote = The Haifa Massacre - 25/7/1938 A car bomb was planted by the Irgun Zionist gang in an Arab market in Haifa which killed 35 Arab civilians and wounded 70. }}</ref> There are no clearly documented cases of the Irgun using car bombs in suicide attacks, but the Irgun – and their more extreme [[Lehi (militant group) |Lehi]] splinter group – are seen as the key developers of car bombs, that were later used by other groups in numerous suicide attacks.<ref name="Davis The First Car Bomb" >{{cite book | doi=10.1525/9780520949454-011 | chapter = The First Car Bomb | title = Transforming Terror | date = 2019 | last1 = Davis | first1 = Mike | pages=32–33 |isbn=978-0-520-94945-4 }}</ref>
The Irgun were extremely influential.<ref name="wotr" />

=== During World War II ===
{{Campaignbox World War II}}
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| caption2          = [[Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff]]
}}
==== Germans during World War II ====
{{see also
| Leonidas Squadron
| Sonderkommando Elbe
}}

[[Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff]] intended to assassinate [[Adolf Hitler]] with a suicide bombing in 1943, but was unable to complete the attack.<ref>[[Roger Moorhouse]], ''Killing Hitler''. Jonathan Cape, pp. 191–193 (2006); {{ISBN|0-224-07121-1}}.</ref>

During the [[Battle for Berlin]] the {{lang|de|Luftwaffe|italics=no}} flew "self-sacrifice missions" ({{langx|de|selbstopfereinsätze}}) against Soviet bridges over the [[River Oder]]. These "total missions" were flown by pilots of the [[Leonidas Squadron]]. From 17 to 20 April 1945, using any available aircraft, the {{lang|de|Luftwaffe|italics=no}} claimed the squadron had destroyed 17 bridges. However, military historian [[Antony Beevor]] believes this claim was exaggerated and only the railway bridge at [[Küstrin]] was definitely destroyed. He comments that "thirty-five pilots and aircraft was a high price to pay for such a limited and temporary success". The missions were called off when the Soviet ground forces reached the vicinity of the squadron's airbase at [[Jüterbog]].<ref>[[Antony Beevor|Beevor, Antony]]. ''Berlin: The Downfall 1945'', Penguin Books, 2002, p. 238; {{ISBN|0-670-88695-5}}; accessed April 18, 2015.</ref>

==== Allied forces ====
In 1941, some newspapers reported that, "While two New Zealand officers stood on a bridge in Greece holding up advancing Germans with their revolvers, a New Zealand sergeant placed two bared wires together and blew the bridge, the officers, and himself to smithereens".<ref>{{cite news| title = BLEW THEMSELVES UP TO SAVE MATES | url = https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/231454283 | newspaper = The Sun (Sydney, NSW) | date = 13 June 1941 }}</ref>

==== Aceh in WWII ====
{{see also| Suicide attack #Aceh war (1873–1904) | Suicide attack #Dutch | Gallipoli landing }}
{{Campaignbox Pacific War}}
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| image2            = Japanese Empire (orthographic projection).svg
| caption2          = [[Japanese Empire]]: acquisitions before 1930 (darker greens) and at its greatest extent in 1942.
}}

{{lang|nl|Atjèh-moord}} was also used against the Japanese by the Acehnese during the [[Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies#The occupation|Japanese occupation of Aceh]].<ref>{{cite book|author=A. J. Piekaar|title=Atjèh en de oorlog met Japan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=txYyAQAAIAAJ&q=Atj%C3%A8h-moord|year=1949|publisher=W. van Hoeve|page=3}}</ref> The Acehnese {{lang|ar-Latn|[[Ulama]]}} (Islamic Scholars) fought against both the Dutch and the Japanese, revolting against the Dutch in February 1942 and against Japan in November 1942. The revolt was led by the All-Aceh Religious Scholars' Association (PUSA). The Japanese suffered 18 dead in the uprising while they slaughtered either up to 100 or over 120 Acehnese.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=0GrWCmZoEBMC&dq=amuntai+japanese&pg=PA252 Ricklefs 2001], p. 252.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=RcdwAAAAMAAJ&q=In+November+1942,+the+Japanese+found+themselves+putting+down+a+local+rebellion+against+their+rule+carried+out+by+the+same+Acehnese+who+had+removed+the+Dutch+to+make+way+for+their+arrival.+One+leader+of+a+religious+school+in+Cot+Plieng,+... Martinkus 2004], p. 47.</ref> The revolt happened in Bayu and was centred around Tjot Plieng village's religious school.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3NETAQAAMAAJ&q=When+the+resistance+of+the+religious+school+of+Tjot+Plieng+in+Bayu+was+ended+in+November+1942,+over+100+Acehnese+were+massacred,+18+Japanese+died,+and+yet+another+conqueror+had+learned+the+penalty+of+trying+to+deal+with+Aceh+by+force "Tempo: Indonesia's Weekly News Magazine, Volume 3, Issues 43–52" 2003], p. 27.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atjehcyber.net/2011/08/sejarah-jejak-perlawanan-aceh.html |title=Sejarah Jejak Perlawanan Aceh |website=Atjehcyber.net |date=2011-08-10 |access-date=2016-01-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427002230/http://www.atjehcyber.net/2011/08/sejarah-jejak-perlawanan-aceh.html |archive-date=2016-04-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://issuu.com/waspada/docs/waspada__sabtu_17_maret_2012/3 |title=Waspada, Sabtu 17 Maret 2012 by Harian Waspada |website=Issuu.com |date=16 March 2012 |access-date=2016-01-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://issuu.com/waspada/docs/waspada__sabtu_17_maret_2012 |title=Waspada, Sabtu 17 Maret 2012 by Harian Waspada |website=Issuu.com |date=16 March 2012 |access-date=2016-01-17}}</ref> During the revolt, the Japanese troops armed with mortars and machine guns were charged by sword wielding Acehnese under {{lang|id|Teungku Abduldjalil}} (Tengku Abdul Djalil) in [[Buloh Gampong Teungah]] on 10 November and [[Tjot Plieng]] on 13 November.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=BiTjAAAAMAAJ&q=tjot+plieng "Berita Kadjian Sumatera: Sumatra Research Bulletin, Volumes 1–4" 1971], p. 35.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=v3kDBvr5UeYC&q=tjot+plieng Nasution 1963], p. 89.</ref> In May 1945 the Acehnese rebelled again.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=BpZuAAAAMAAJ&q=village+and+the+mosque+at+the+beginning+of+November.+In+the+fighting+that+ensued,+18+Japanese+were+killed+and+more+than+120+Acehnese+perished.+Furthermore+a+local+revolt+broke+out+in+Aceh+in+May+1945. Jong 2000], p. 189.</ref>

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Left: Map of the Japanese administrative areas after April 1943. <br /> Right: Location of [[Aceh]] on a map of present day [[Indonesia]].
}}
==== Japanese ''kamikaze'' ====
{{main| Japanese Special Attack Units | Kamikaze }}
{{further| Kaiten | Banzai charge | Fukuryu | Ohka | Lunge mine | Shinyo (suicide motorboat) }}
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Left: an [[A6M Zero]]'s attack on the {{USS|Missouri|BB-63}}, 11 April 1945.
Right: Kamikaze pilot [[Yukio Araki]], died 27 May 1945, [[#Children and teenagers |age  17]].
}}

The most overt and prolific use of suicide attacks during [[World War II]] was by [[Empire of Japan]]. It remains the most intense and deadly, campaign of suicide attacks in history.<ref name="IWM transcript" /> [[Kamikaze]] pilots on [[suicide mission]]s flew aircraft full of bombs and [[improvised explosives|improvised missiles]] at enemy targets.<ref name="IWM transcript" /> The attacks used 2600 aircraft to kill 7000 allied naval personnel and 4000 Japanese suicide operatives.<ref name="IWM transcript" /><ref name="IWM kamikaze failed" />

{{lang|ja-Latn|[[Kamikaze]]}} was a ritual{{verify source |date=April 2025}} act of self-sacrifice carried out by Japanese pilots of explosive-laden [[aircraft]] against Allied warships which occurred on a large scale at the end of World War II.
About 3000 attacks were made and about 50 ships were sunk.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dodd|first1=Henry|title=A short history of suicide bombing|date=23 Aug 2013|publisher=Action on Armed Violence|url=https://aoav.org.uk/2013/a-short-history-of-suicide-bombings/|access-date=13 October 2015}}</ref>

Later in the war, as Japan became more desperate, this act became formalised and ritualised. Planes were outfitted with explosives specific to the task of a suicide mission.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jackson|first1=Steve|title=Lucky Lady: The World War II Heroics of the USS Santa Fe and Franklin|date=2003|publisher=Da Capo Press.|isbn=978-0-7867-1310-3|page=308|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=65tzvzXJxC8C&q=ritualized+kamikaze&pg=PA308|access-date=6 October 2015}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> {{lang|ja-Latn|Kamikaze}} strikes were a weapon of [[asymmetric war]] used by the [[Empire of Japan]] against [[United States Navy]] and [[Royal Navy]] [[aircraft carrier]]s, although the [[armoured flight deck]] of the Royal Navy carriers diminished {{lang|ja-Latn|kamikaze}} effectiveness. Along with fitting existing aircraft with bombs, the Japanese also developed the {{lang|ja-Latn|[[Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka|Ohka]]}}, a purpose-built suicide aircraft that was air-launched from a carrying bomber and propelled to the target at high speed using rocket engines. The Japanese Navy also used piloted [[torpedo]]es called {{lang|ja-Latn|[[kaiten]]}} (heaven shaker) on suicide missions. Although sometimes called [[midget submarine]]s, these were modified versions of the unmanned torpedoes of the time and are distinct from the torpedo-firing midget submarines used earlier in the war, which were designed to [[wikt:Infiltration|infiltrate]] [[shore]] defenses and return to a [[mother ship]] after firing their torpedoes. Although extremely hazardous, these midget submarine attacks were not technically suicide missions, as the earlier midget submarines had escape hatches. {{lang|ja-Latn|Kaitens}}, however, provided no means of escape.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~un3k-mn/konadaa-girei.htm|title=Escape system|access-date=18 September 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~un3k-mn/konadaa-huchi.htm|title=Hatches|access-date=18 September 2010}}</ref>

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| image2            = Kamikaze attacks USS White Plains (CVE-66) on 25 October 1944 (80-G-288882).jpg
| image3            = USS Essex (CV-9) is hit by a Kamikaze off the Philippines on 25 November 1944.jpg
| image4            = USS Newcomb Damage 1945.jpg
| footer            = '''Left to right:''' {{USS|Belleau Wood|CVL-24|2}} (left) and ''Franklin'' hit by ''[[kamikaze]]s'', 30 October 1944. <!--
 --> '''Second:''' about to miss crash diving into escort carrier [[USS White Plains (CVE-66) |USS ''White Plains'' (CVE-66)]]. <!--
 --> '''Third:''' a ''[[kamikaze]]'' aircraft explodes after crashing into ''Essex''<!-- {{'s}} flight deck amidships --> 25 November 1944. <!--
 --> '''Last:''' ''Kamikaze'' damage to the destroyer {{USS|Newcomb|DD-586|6}}.
}}

== Pilot suicides ==
{{see also
| Suicide attack #personal | label1 = 20th century personal disputes (above)
| Suicide attack #Individuals after 1980  | label2 = Individuals after 1980 (below)
}}

Some passenger airline pilots appear to have committed mass murder-suicide, or attempted to, with no apparent political motives.

=== Undisputed pilot suicides and attempted suicides ===

* {{ annotated link |Japan Air Lines Flight 350}}.

{{incomplete list| date = June 2025 |transport}}

=== Speculated and disputed pilot suicides ===
{{ see also | conspiracy theorising }}

* [[Malaysia Airlines Flight 370]] – Pilot suicide is one of several competing explanations suggested for the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on 8 March 2014.

{{incomplete list| date = June 2025 |transport}}

== Early Cold War ==
[[File:Bombing of Jerusalem old railway station.jpg |thumb|320px|
Damage caused to [[Jerusalem railway station]] by an [[Irgun]] suitcase bomb. A [[sapper]] was killed attempting to defuse the bomb. One of the Irgun militants involved blew himself up in prison 6 months later after being [[Olei Hagardom |sentenced to death]] for his role in the train station bombing.]]
{{further| Cold War }}

=== Insurgency in Palestine (1944–1948) ===
{{further| Jewish insurgency in Palestine | label1=anti-British insurgency in Palestine
| Olei Hagardom | label2 = Executed Irgun and Lehi
| suicide attack #Nuclear Samson | label3 = Samson Option (below)
}}{{anchor|1947 Operation Samson|1947 Samson|1947}}
[[File:The Bible panorama, or The Holy Scriptures in picture and story (1891) (14782623624).jpg |thumb|
[[Gustave Doré]]'s illustration of the [[writing on the wall]] from [[Daniel 5]]. <br> {{langx|he|מנא מנא תקל ופרסין}} <small>[[Romanization of Hebrew |Romanized]]:</small> {{nowrap| Mene! Mene! Tekel Upharsin! }}]]

The [[Lehi (militant group) |Lehi militant group]] used the [[Hebrew Bible |Biblical story]] of [[Samson]]'s death ([[Judges 16]]) in discussions about suicide attacks. In a meeting about ways to assassinate General [[Evelyn Barker]], the British Army commander in [[Mandatory Palestine]], a [[Female suicide bomber |young woman volunteered]] to do the assassination as a [[suicide bombing]].<ref name="Samson (en)" /><ref name="ansheim 2002" /><ref name="Margalit" /> They refer to it as a "{{ill|Let me die with the Philistines|he|תמות נפשי עם פלשתים| lt =Let my soul die with the Philistines}}" proposal ({{langx|he|תמות נפשי עם פלשתים}}) as a reference to the words of Samson in (Judges 16:30), or a "[[Samson option]]".<ref name="Judges 16" /><ref name="Samson (en)" /><ref name="ansheim 2002" /><ref name="Margalit" /> On that occasion other members of the group allegedly rejected her offer. She also had a physical disability that might have made her unable to carry out the plan the group had in mind.<ref name="Samson (en)" /><ref name="Margalit" /><ref name="ansheim 2002" /> The Lehi memorialize her among their martyrs and fallen combatants ({{langx|he|הללי לח"י}}), but her cause of death is not described.<ref name="hLLY LHY" /><ref name="ansheim 2002" /><ref name="Margalit" />

The [[Irgun]] and [[Lehi (militant group) |Lehi]] militant groups collaborated on at least one intended suicide attack during their [[Jewish insurgency in Palestine |insurgency against the British]] (before the [[1948 Palestine war]]). However, two of their own militants were the only casualties of their best documented plan.<ref name="Zq7tM">{{harvnb|Sheleg|2007}}</ref> A Lehi militant and an Irgun militant blew themselves up in [[Museum of Underground Prisoners |Jerusalem Central Prison]], using [[improvised explosive device |improvised grenades]] that had been constructed by another Lehi prisoner. The explosives were disguised as oranges to hide them from the guards, and smuggled in with the prisoners' food.<ref name="Sheleg 2007" />
Both militants had been [[Olei Hagardom |sentenced to death by hanging]]. The original plan, which the Lehi called "[[Operation Samson]]", was to carry the concealed grenades with them as they were taken to the gallows then use them to carry out a suicide attack against the executioners.<ref name="Srugim Philistines" /><ref name="Zq7tM" /> But the explosives detonated early, while the two of them were alone together in their cell.<ref name="Zq7tM" /> Allegedly when the pair learned that Rabbi Goldman would be present at the time of the execution, they changed the plan and committed suicide alone together shortly before they were scheduled to be taken to the gallows.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Ben-Arieh | first = Yehoshua | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GHHsDwAAQBAJ&dq=Barazani+and+Feinstein+blew+themselves+up+in+their+jail+cell+shortly+before+the+execution.&pg=PA594 | title = The Making of Eretz Israel in the Modern Era: A Historical-Geographical Study (1799–1949) | date = 2020-03-09 | publisher = [[Walter de Gruyter]] GmbH & Co KG | isbn = 978-3-11-062640-7 |language=en}}</ref> Another version of the story is that the person the militants were unwilling to harm was actually one of the British prison guards.<ref name="Zq7tM" />

The British military responded the resistance by reintroducing the [[Capital punishment in Palestine |death penalty for terrorism]].<ref name="Bundaberg" />
The Lehi militant, who was about 21, was sentenced to death for carrying a grenade during a British imposition of martial law.<ref name="JTA 18 Apr 47" /><ref name="MB iz" />
Sympathetic sources say he was on a mission to assassinate Brigadier A.P. Davis, the commander of the Ninth Division, with a [[Mills grenade]].<ref name="AP DAV" />
But during the British War on terror in Palestine, merely carrying a weapon was sufficient for a death sentence.
The Irgun militant had been sentenced to death alongside another militant for their role in the {{ill|bombing of Jerusalem Train Station|he|פיצוץ תחנת הרכבת המנדטורית בירושלים}}.<ref name="Aderet 2021-11-01" /><ref name="MF iz" />
The other militant later had his sentence commuted to life in prison.
There was heated debate about the age of the Irgun suicide militant when he was sentenced. His mother and brother claimed he was 17, too young to be executed according to the law of the British authorities.<ref name="MR 27 July 2017" /><ref name="JTA 18 Apr 47" /><ref name="JTA 4 April 1947" /><ref name="Benjamin" /><ref name="Bella" />
The court claimed he was 23, since the boy had served in the British military during World War II, and the authorities refused to believe they had recruited a minor who was lying about his age.<ref name="JTA 18 Apr 47" />
[[Yehuda Lapidot]] and the IDF say he was born on 5 October 1927.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://archive.org/stream/yehuda-lapidot-the-irgun/Yehuda%20Lapidot%20-%20The%20Irgun_djvu.txt | title = Yehuda Lapidot - the Irgun }}</ref>
Surviving relatives disagree, maintaining that he was born in July 1929.<ref name="MR 27 July 2017" />

Before they blew themselves up, the Irgun boy gave his Bible to the guard, the Bible had been given to the militant by his older brother.<ref name="MR 27 July 2017" />
Foreign newspapers reported that they wrote "[[Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin |Mene! Mene! Tekel Upharsin!]]", from [[Daniel 5]]:25, on the walls of their shared [[death row]] cell, shortly before they blew themselves to pieces.<ref name="hangman defeated" /><ref name="Mercury 1947" />

Israeli newspapers quote the father of the Lehi militant, years after the event, thanking the militant who constructed the bombs for "saving the honour of Israel".<ref name="Srugim Father" />

The story of their deaths frequently featured in political speeches of the Irgun commander and his political successors in the [[Likud]] party.<ref name="Begin 1964 quote" />{{sfn|Begin|1981}}<ref name="EO 2007" /><ref name="BN 2010" />
In 2007, [[The Jerusalem Post]] described the double suicide as "One of the best-known stories of heroism leading to the creation of the State of Israel".{{sfn|Pomerantz|2007}}
In 2007, prison guard's son returned the Bible to the militant's nephew, in a ceremony with a speech by [[Ehud Olmert]].<ref name="ynet 20 April 07" /><ref name="EO 2007" /> Olmert claimed the reason they abandoned the planned attack was mercy for the guard.<ref name="EO 2007" />
In 2009 the [[Likud #History |Likud]]-led government introduced controversial changes to the high school curriculum that included a study unit focused on the suicides and other martyred pre-state militants.<ref name="study unit" />
In 2010 two [[Arab Israeli]] [[Knesset members]] (KM) were ejected from the chamber after heckling a speech by [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] memorializing the militants (the 2 suicides and 10 who were hung). Another KM, and [[Nissim Ze'ev]], yelled "[[Haniyeh]] is waiting for you in Gaza".<ref name="Ynet 9 March 2010" />

{{Multiple image
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| caption1     = 
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'''Left:''' Plaque at the train station about the bombing and the suicide afterwards, but omitting the British [[sapper]] (Note: the date is incorrectly shown as 12 April, other sources say the night of 21{{nbh}}22 April 1947)
'''Right:''' Sign for a path named after the Lehi militant, in the [[Yair Farm]] [[Israeli settlement |settlement]] (named after Lehi founder [[Yair Stern]]), in the [[West Bank]], Palestine.
}} {{-}}
==={{ visible anchor |Korean War}} (1950–1953) ===
{{Campaignbox Korean War}}
{{main| Korean War }}

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

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

In 1952, three Chinese soldiers reportedly killed themselves with hand grenades to avoid capture.<ref name="tr 49008320" />

=== Israeli and Egyptian wars (1956–1970) ===
{{further| Suez Crisis | Six-Day War | War of Attrition | Samson Option }}

==== Israelis "dying with the Philistines" in Gaza ====
Some Israelis romanticize acts of self sacrifice in battle by analogy to the [[Hebrew Bible |Biblical]] hero [[Samson]], particularly if they take place in [[Gaza City|Gaza]], where Israelis believe Samson committed suicide and killed thousands of enemy [[Philistines]] in the process.<ref name="kikar" /> In situations where death or severe injury is already difficult to avoid, it is seen as heroic to abandon efforts to save one's self and instead focus on causing as much harm as possible to the enemy, in the process of effectively committing suicide.<ref name="yNet Ali" /> This includes some anecdotes of events during their wars with Egypt.<ref name="kikar" />

==== Suez Crisis (1956) ====
According to Egyptian media, an Arab Christian military officer from Syria, [[Jules Jammal]], sunk a French ship with a suicide attack during the [[Suez Crisis]] in 1956.<ref>{{cite news|author=Sami Moubayed|title=Rising above odds to resurrect leaders|url=http://gulfnews.com/about-gulf-news/al-nisr-portfolio/weekend-review/articles/rising-above-odds-to-resurrect-leaders-1.40430|newspaper=Weekend Review|date=May 2, 2008|author2=Mustapha Al Sayyed}}</ref> However, none of the French ships named by the sources were harmed during the crisis. It is unclear which actual ship he is supposed to have sunk. One source calls the ship at issue the "[[Ocean liner|liner]] ''Jean D'Arc''"<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120630001733/http://www.syrianhistory.com/view-photo/1021 Jules Jammal (1932 1956), the famous officer in the Syrian Navy who fought in the Suez Canal war of 1956: Syrian History] and [http://www.syrianhistory.com/People/key/Jules+Jammal Jules Jammal: Syrian History]</ref> and another the "French warship, ''Jeanne D'Arc''".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070515152656/http://www.mideastviews.com/articleview.php?art=208 Middle East analysis by Sami Moubayed – Reflections on May 6], Mideastviews.com; accessed 15 June 2015</ref> There was a [[French cruiser Jeanne d'Arc (1930)|French cruiser ''Jeanne d'Arc'']] in service at that time, but it was decommissioned in 1964 rather than sunk. Some sources name the [[French battleship Jean Bart (1940)|battleship ''Jean Bart'']].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/changingpatterns010404mbp/changingpatterns010404mbp_djvu.txt|title=The Changing Patterns of the Middle East|author=Pierre Rondout|date=1961|publisher=Praeger|page=161|edition=Revised}}, which refers to the ''Jean Bart'' as a "cruiser")</ref>

==== "War of Attrition" (1967–1970) ====
{{main| War of Attrition | Israeli-Egyptian War | Battle of Karameh }}
On 21 March 1968, in response to persistent [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] (PLO) raids against Israeli civilian targets, Israel [[Battle of Karameh |attacked]] the town of [[Karameh]], Jordan, the site of a major PLO camp. The goal of the invasion was to destroy the Karameh camp and capture [[Yasser Arafat]] in reprisal for the attacks by the PLO against Israeli civilians.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} The PLO attacks had culminated in an Israeli school bus hitting a mine in the [[Negev]].<ref>{{Cite book| last=Senker | first=Cath | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hI844N9leNUC&pg=PA45|title=The Arab-Israeli Conflict | date = 2004| publisher = Black Rabbit Books | isbn = 978-1-58340-441-6 |language=en}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> This engagement marked the first known deployment of suicide bombers by Palestinian forces.<ref>{{cite book| author1 = Saada, Tass | author2 = Merrill, Dean | title = Once an Arafat Man: The True Story of How a PLO Sniper Found a New Life | location = [[Illinois]] | publisher = Tyndale House Publishers | year = 2008 | pages = 4–6 | isbn = 978-1-4143-2361-9}}</ref>{{verify source| reason = unclear who suicide bombed who and where. | date = March 2025 }}

=== Nuclear weapons ===
{{further|Nuclear weapons}}{{ anchor |Nuclear}}

==== United States nuclear weapons ====
{{Main|Nuclear weapons of the United States}}

On 27 December 2018, the ''Green Bay Press-Gazette'' interviewed veteran{{clarify|date=October 2023}} Mark Bentley, who had trained for the [[Special Atomic Demolition Munition]] (SADM) program to manually place and detonate a modified version of the [[W54]] nuclear bomb. The report stated that he and other soldiers training for the program knew this was a suicide mission because either it would be unrealistic to outrun the timer on the bomb, or that soldiers would be obligated to secure the site before the timer went off. However, in theory the timer could be set long enough to give the team a chance to escape. Bently claimed:<ref>{{cite news|author=Paul Srubas, Green Bay (Wis.) Press-Gazette via the AP|title=His job was to place atomic bombs. Place them, not drop them. Set the timer. Run like hell.|url=https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/2019/01/07/depere-atomic-bombs-hiroshima-nagasaki-fort-belvoir-davycrockett-mark-bentley-army-service-cold-war/2418122002/|newspaper=[[Green Bay Press-Gazette]]|date=January 7, 2019}}</ref>
{{blockquote|We all knew it was a one-way mission, a suicide mission […] You set your timer, and it would click when it went off, or it went ding or I forget what, but you knew you were toast. Ding! Your toast is ready, and it's you. […] The Army is not going to set a bomb like that and run away and leave it, because they don't know if someone else would get ahold of it. They have to leave troops there to make sure it's not stolen or compromised, and that would just be collateral damage. You didn't go out with the thought that it was anything other than a one-way mission. If you're Bruce Willis, you get away, but I ain't Bruce Willis.}}

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

==== Mutually assured destruction ====
{{main| Mutually assured destruction }}

[[Mutual assured destruction]] (MAD) is a [[doctrine]] of [[military strategy]] and [[national security |national security policy]] which posits that a full-scale use of [[nuclear weapon]]s by an attacker on a nuclear-armed defender with [[Second strike |second-strike capabilities]] would result in the [[nuclear holocaust|complete annihilation]] of both the attacker and the defender.<ref>[http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/history/cold-war/strategy/strategy-mutual-assured-destruction.htm Mutual Assured Destruction] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180103001128/http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/history/cold-war/strategy/strategy-mutual-assured-destruction.htm |date=2018-01-03}}; Col. Alan J. Parrington, USAF, [http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj97/win97/parrin.html Mutually Assured Destruction Revisited, Strategic Doctrine in Question] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150620055606/http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj97/win97/parrin.html |date=2015-06-20}}, Airpower Journal, Winter 1997.</ref>

==== Samson Option ====
{{main| Samson Option }}

Israel's [[The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy |alleged]] nuclear strategy, the "[[Samson Option]]", takes its name from [[Samson]]'s suicide in [[Gaza City]], the same [[Hebrew Bible judges |Biblical story]] that the [[Lehi (militant group) |Lehi]] and [[Irgun]] militant group used to describe potential and attempted suicide attacks ([[#Samson History |see above]]).<ref name="Samson (en)" /><ref name="ansheim 2002" /><ref name="Margalit" />
The story is about an [[Israelite]] [[Biblical judges|judge]] named [[Samson]], who kills himself and the [[Philistines]] who captured him by pushing apart the pillars of a [[Dagon]] temple, bringing down the roof crushing everyone.{{sfn|Hersh|1991|pp = 137}}<ref>{{cite web | last1 = Beres | first1 = Louis René | title = Israel and the "Samson Option" in an Interconnected World | url = https://mwi.westpoint.edu/israel-samson-option-interconnected-world/ | website = Modern War Institute | access-date = 4 July 2023 | date = 16 November 2018}}</ref>

The Lehi militant who built the bombs for [[Operation Samson]], the intended [[#1947 |suicide attack]] in [[Jerusalem Central Prison]] in 1947, later had a leadership role in the Israeli military's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons division ({{langx|he|אב״כ}}).{{efn|name=ABC}}<ref name="Chissin" /><ref name="Reznitsky (he)" /><ref name="srugim obt" /><ref name="EBA SA" />
He originally enlisted using his girlfriend's surname.<ref name="Reznitsky (en)" /><ref name="Reznitsky (he)" />
Some of his work was purely defensive, such as the development of gas masks, but even that was conducted in great secrecy.<ref name="19 October 2005" />

=== Lod airport massacre (1972) ===
{{Main| Lod airport massacre | Japanese Red Army | PFLP-EO }}

One of the first incidents to be labelled "suicide terrorism" was the [[Lod Airport massacre |mass shooting]] at the airport in [[Lod]] (also known as [[Lydda and Ramla |Lydda]]), Israel's international airport.{{citation needed| reason = who is "suicide terrorism" quoting? |date=June 2025}}{{efn| [[ Palestinian expulsion from Lydda and Ramle |now known]] as [[Ben Gurion Airport]], re-named after [[David Ben-Gurion]]. }} Two of the attackers died during the attack, one of whom deliberately committed suicide using a hand grenade.<ref name="mTnbJ">{{Cite web |last=Blumenkrantz |first=Zohar |date=2010-02-13 |title=Israeli Rights Group Sues North Korea Over 1972 Terror Attack |url=https://www.haaretz.com/2010-02-13/ty-article/israeli-rights-group-sues-north-korea-over-1972-terror-attack/0000017f-e1ce-d38f-a57f-e7de293d0000 |website=Haaretz}}</ref>
According to [[France 24]] and [[Agence France-Presse|AFP]], "The massacre was planned as a suicide attack and all three Japanese militants had intended to mutilate their faces with their grenades to make identification more difficult".<ref name="F24 KO SA" /><ref name="Ynet KO SA" />

It was carried out by three foreign fighters from the [[Japanese Red Army]] (a communist militant group from Japan) in corroboration with the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations]] ([[PFLP-EO]]) division, led by [[Wadie Haddad]], a rebellious offshoot of the [[PFLP]].<ref name="Wadie JC" />
Some reports at the time labelled the incident a "[[Kamikaze]]" attack,<ref name="col rep" >{{cite web | title= Collection of news reports | url= https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP79-01194A000200120001-1.pdf | website= www.cia.gov | access-date= 4 December 2024}}</ref> but others have criticized the label, including the surviving attacker's interpreter.<ref name="Satoshi Sugawara" >{{cite news | author1= Satoshi Sugawara |title=Interpreter for Red Army terrorist still indignant 50 years after Tel Aviv attack | url= https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20220605-34480/ | access-date= 4 December 2024 | work= japannews.yomiuri.co.jp [[The Japan News]] (English edition of [[Yomiuri Shimbun]]) | date= 5 June 2022 | location= Japan |language=en}}</ref> The Kamakazi were a [[Japanese Special Attack Units |unit of suicide bombers]] in the airforce of [[imperial Japan]] in WWII, the [[Empire of Japan]] had a very different ideology to the JRA. Researchers from [[Duke University]] described the JRA's motives as "rooted in anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, and anti-capitalism".<ref name="Global Revolution" >{{cite journal | last1= Randall | first1= Jeremy | title= Global Revolution Starts with Palestine: The Japanese Red Army's Alliance with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine | journal= Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East | date= 1 December 2023 | volume= 43 | issue= 3 | pages= 358–369 | doi= 10.1215/1089201X-10892853 | url= https://read.dukeupress.edu/cssaame/article/43/3/358/384021/Global-Revolution-Starts-with-PalestineThe |access-date=4 December 2024 |issn=1089-201X| url-access= subscription }}</ref>
In 2010, [[Ze'ev]] Sarig, the former manager of [[Lod Airport]], compared the attack to the [[September 11 attacks]] in New York, "This attack was for Israelis what the September 11th attacks were for Americans", when trying to sue North Korea for the attack in a United States court in [[Puerto Rico]] in 2010.<ref name="mTnbJ" />

== Late Cold War and War on Terror ==
[[File: Suicide-attacks-cpost-bigger-font.JPG |upright=1.8|right|thumb| The number of suicide attacks grew enormously after 2000. Number of suicide attacks and deaths from attacks 1982–2014.<ref>{{cite web| title = Number of suicide attacks and deaths from attacks 1982–2014 | publisher = Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism, [[University of Chicago]] | url = https://dss.princeton.edu/catalog/resource1057 | work = [[Suicide Attack Database]] }}</ref>]] {{Further|Cold War|War on Terror}}{{ anchor |1980s}}

=== Background to the era ===
{{Further| Timeline of the Cold War }}

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

{| class="wikitable sortable floatright" style="text-align:right; width:340px;"
|+ Suicide attacks by organization,<br/> 1982 to mid-2015<ref>(Click "Search Database", then under "filter by", click "group"){{cite web|title=Year: 1982–2015. Group|url=http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|website=Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism Suicide Attack Database|access-date=2015-11-20|archive-date=2016-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124204240/http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1}}</ref>
|-
! Group
! Attacks
! People<br/>killed
|-
! Others/unidentified attackers
| 2547
| 22877
|-
! [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant|Islamic State]]<ref>includes earlier versions of the group counted separately by the CPOST Suicide Attack Database: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and Islamic State of Iraq</ref>
| 424
| 4949
|-
! [[Al-Qaeda]] (Central)
| 20
| 3391
|-
! [[Taliban]] (Afghanistan)
| 665
| 2925
|-
! [[Al-Qaeda in Iraq]]
| 121
| 1541
|-
! [[Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam|Liberation Tigers <br/>of Tamil Eelam]]
| 82
| 961
|-
! [[Al-Shabaab (militant group)|Al-Shabab]]
| 64
| 726
|-
! [[Hamas]]
| 78
| 511
|-
! [[Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula|Al-Qaeda in the<br/> Arabian Peninsula]]
| 23
| 354
|-
! [[Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna|Ansar al-Sunna<br/> (Iraq)]]
| 28
| 319
|-
! [[Palestinian Islamic Jihad]]
| 50
| 225
|-
! [[Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades|Al-Aqsa Martyrs'<br/> Brigades]]
| 40
| 107
|-
! [[Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan|Taliban (Pakistan)]]
| 7
| 92
|-
! [[Ansar Bait al-Maqdis|Ansar Bait<br/> al-Maqdis]]
| 10
| 84
|-
! [[Kurdistan Workers' Party|PKK (Turkey)]]
| 10
| 32
|-
! [[Hezbollah]]
| 7
| 28
|-
|}
==== Late Cold War armed conflicts ====
{{further| Cold War in Asia | Soviet–Afghan War }}

[[Sunni Muslims]] were possibly the last major branch of the [[Abrahamic religions]] to resort to overt suicide attacks.
Islamic suicide bombing is a fairly recent phenomenon. It was absent from the 1979{{endash}}1989 [[Soviet–Afghan War|Afghan jihad]] against the Soviet Union,<ref name="FeldmanITNA" /> an asymmetrical war where the {{lang|ar-Latn|mujahideen}} fought [[Soviet Air Forces |Soviet warplanes]], helicopters and tanks primarily with light weapons. According to author [[Sadakat Kadri]], "the very idea that Muslims might blow themselves up for God was unheard of before 1983, and it was not until the early 1990s that anyone anywhere had tried to justify killing innocent Muslims who were not on a battlefield". After 1983, the process was limited among Muslims to [[Hezbollah]] and other [[Lebanese Shia Muslims |Lebanese Shia]] factions for more than a decade.<ref name="Kadri" />

==== Middle Eastern politics in the 1970s and 1980s ====
{{See also| 1977 Israeli election | 1981 Israeli election}}
{| class="wikitable sortable floatright" style="text-align:right; width:340px;"
|+Suicide attacks by location,<br/> 1982 to mid-2015<ref>(Click "Search Database", then under "filter by", click "location"){{cite web|title=Year: 1982–2015. Group|url=http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|website=Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism Suicide Attack Database|access-date=2015-11-20|archive-date=2016-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124204240/http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1}}</ref>
|-
! Country
! Attacks
! People<br/> killed
|-
! Iraq
| 1938
| 20084
|-
! Pakistan
| 490
| 6287
|-
! Afghanistan
| 1059
| 4748
|-
! United States
| 4
| 2997
|-
! Syria
| 172
| 2058
|-
! Sri Lanka
| 115
| 1584
|-
! Nigeria
| 103
| 1347
|-
! Yemen
| 87
| 1128
|-
! Lebanon
| 66
| 1007
|-
! Somalia
| 91
| 829
|-
! Russia
| 86
| 782
|-
! Israel
| 113
| 721
|-
! Algeria
| 24
| 281
|-
! Indonesia
| 10
| 252
|-
! Egypt
| 21
| 246
|-
! Kenya
| 2
| 213
|-
! Iran
| 8
| 160
|-
! Libya
| 29
| 155
|-
! India
| 15
| 123
|-
! Turkey
| 29
| 115
|-
! United Kingdom
| 5
| 78
|-
! Palestinian Territory
| 59
| 67
|-
| All other countries
| 99
| 674
|-
|}

In 1977 the [[מנחם בגין |former Irgun commander]] became prime minister, after previously being in opposition.<ref name="1977 win" /> Historical militants featured prominently in his political speeches.{{sfn|Begin|1964}}<ref name="Begin 1981 IAJBF" /><ref name="Tablet IAJBW" /> He praised the actions of his militants during the [[Jewish insurgency in Palestine |insurgency in Palestine in the 1940s]], including the leader of the cell who [[King David Hotel bombing |bombed the King David Hotel]] (killing 91 people and 1 terrorist). His favourites were the two young militants who blew themselves up in Jerusalem prison [[#1947 |in 1947]].<ref name="Begin 1981 IAJBF" /><ref name="Tablet IAJBW" />{{sfn|Harkov|2019}}

==== Redefinition of the concept ====

The [[United States government]] defined "modern" suicide bombing has been defined as "involving explosives deliberately carried to the target either on the person or in a civilian vehicle and delivered by surprise".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kraft|first1=Michael|last2=Marks|first2=Edward|title=U.S. Government Counterterrorism: A Guide to Who Does What|date=2011|publisher=CRC Press|chapter=1. Modern Terrorism and the Federal Government Response}}</ref>{{verify source| reason = confirm quote and attribution |date=May 2025}}
[[Noah Feldman]] and many others{{who|date=May 2025}} exclude terror attacks, such as the [[Lod Airport massacre]], where "the perpetrator's ensured death" was not "a precondition for the success of his mission".<ref name="ICT-STDC" /> The intended targets are often civilian, not just military or political.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}
Despite the [[Lod Airport]] attack being overtly planned as a suicide attack, and often referred to as such.<ref name="F24 KO SA" /><ref name="Ynet KO SA" /> As well as the surviving attacker wanting the death penalty.<ref name="Okamoto hope" />

=== Suicide attacks in the 1980s and 1990s ===
[[File:The U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in the aftermath of the August 7, 1998, al-Qaida suicide bombing.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Embassy of the United States, Dar es Salaam|U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam]], Tanzania, in the aftermath of 7 August 1998, [[Al-Qaeda]] [[1998 United States embassy bombings|suicide bombing]].]] {{ anchor |1980s}}
{{further| 1982 Lebanon War }}

The [[Islamic Dawa Party]]'s [[1981 Iraqi embassy bombing|car bombing of the Iraqi embassy in Beirut in December 1981]] and [[Hezbollah]]'s [[April 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing|bombing of the U.S. embassy in April 1983]] and [[1983 Beirut barracks bombing|attack on United States Marines and French barracks]] in October 1983 brought suicide bombings international attention and began the modern suicide bombing era.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1146/annurev-polisci-062813-051049|doi-access=free|title=The Rise and Spread of Suicide Bombing|year=2015|last1=Horowitz|first1=Michael C.|journal=Annual Review of Political Science|volume=18|pages=69–84}}</ref> Other parties to the civil war were quick to adopt the tactic, and by 1999 factions such as Hezbollah, the [[Amal Movement]], the [[Ba'ath Party]], and the [[Syrian Social Nationalist Party]] had carried out a total of roughly 50 suicide bombings.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} The Syrian Social Nationalist Party sent the [[Sana'a Mehaidli|first recorded female suicide bomber]] in 1985.<ref name="FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBERS">{{cite web |url=http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB408.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051006051237/http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB408.pdf |archive-date=6 October 2005 |title=FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBERS |author=Debra D. Zedalis| publisher=Strategic Studies Institute |date=June 2004}}</ref><ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2eTc5pm_Y3MC |title=Female Suicide Bombers |author=Debra D. Zedalis |date= August 2004|publisher=The Minerva Group |isbn=978-1-4102-1593-2 |access-date=2016-01-17}}</ref><ref name="martinfrost.ws">{{cite web |url=http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/jan2008/female_bombers.html |title=Female Suicide Bombers |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726124637/http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/jan2008/female_bombers.html |archive-date=July 26, 2014 | author=Debra D. Zedalis| publisher=University Press of the Pacific| date=2004| quote=Iraq militants turn to women for suicide attacks}}</ref><ref name="Rajan">{{cite book|last1=Rajan|first1=V. G. Julie|title=Women Suicide Bombers: Narratives of Violence|date=2011|publisher=Routledge.|page=225|isbn=978-1-136-76021-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d8CsAgAAQBAJ&q=Sana%27a+Mehaidli+first+female+suicide+bomber&pg=PA225|access-date=13 October 2015|quote=Rosemary Skaine writes about Sana'a Mehaidli the first suicide bomber and first women {{sic?}} bomber for the Syrian Socialist Network Party ...}}</ref>

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

The [[White Wolves]], a loosely affiliated and semi mythical group of pro-[[apartheid]] terrorists [[Terrorism in South Africa |in South Africa]], expressed an overt willingness to die during attacks.<ref name="White Wolves" >
URL https://omny.fm/shows/weird-little-guys/the-white-wolf
iheart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-weird-little-guys-201395214/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6O5wt2Kg5UxvswukRZ8lzl?si=e52fQGIrQvOsIOTmib6JRQ
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-white-wolf/id1760218611?i=1000700050736
</ref>{{additional citations needed| reasons = the existing source has additional sources listed, some of which might be useful. |date=May 2025}}

The [[Kurdistan Workers' Party]] (PKK), a secular group, have also been involved in suicide attacks. The PKK began their insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984.{{clarify| reason = when was their first suicide attack? |date=May 2025}} According to the [[Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism]]'s [[Suicide Attack Database]], as of 2015, ten suicide attacks by the PKK from 1996 to 2012 killed 32 people and injured 116.<ref>{{cite web|title=Year: 1982–2015. Group: Kurdistan Workers Party|url=http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|website=Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism Suicide Attack Database|access-date=2015-11-20|archive-date=2016-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124204240/http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1}}</ref>{{update inline| reason =when is their most recent?|date=May 2025}}

{{ anchor |1990s}}
[[Al-Qaeda]] carried out its first suicide attack in the mid-1990s.<ref name="rwkckb07">{{cite journal|last=Kurz|first=Robert W.|author2=Charles K. Bartles|s2cid=96476266|title=Chechen suicide bombers|journal=Journal of Slavic Military Studies|year=2007|volume=20|issue=4|pages=529–547|doi=10.1080/13518040701703070|url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a477845.pdf|access-date=August 30, 2012|archive-date=October 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011185147/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a477845.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

Suicide attacks first occurred in Israel and the [[Palestinian Territories]] in 1989.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.news1.co.il/Archive/001-D-206364-00.html?tag=09-17-36|script-title=he:פיגוע אוטובוס 405 | publisher = News1 | access-date = 22 March 2015 }}</ref>{{failed verification| reason = does not say "first" or call it a suicide attack |date=May 2025}}

=== The 2001 September 11 attacks and after ===
{{anchor|2000s}}{{further| September 11 attacks | War on terror }}{{ anchor |2000s}}

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

[[File:Beit Lid suicide bombing (1995).jpg|thumb|left|Scene after a Palestinian suicide bombing in 1995.]]

[[List of Palestinian suicide attacks|Suicide bombing]] became a popular tactic among [[Palestinian terror|Palestinian militant]] organizations such as [[Hamas]], [[Palestinian Islamic Jihad|Islamic Jihad]], the [[Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade]], and occasionally by the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine |PFLP]].{{sfn |Pedahzur |2004 |pp=66–69 }} The first suicide bombing in Israel was done by Hamas in 1994.<ref name="rwkckb07" /> Attacks peaked from 2001 to 2003 with over 40 bombings and over 200 killed in 2002.<ref>{{cite web|title=RESULTS ARE FILTERED BY: Year: 1982–2015. Country: Israel|url=http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|website=Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism Suicide Attack Database|access-date=2015-11-20|archive-date=2016-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124204240/http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Schweitzer, Y. |s2cid=144812564 |title=Palestinian ''Istishhadia'': A Developing Instrument' |doi=10.1080/10576100701435761 |url=http://www.inss.org.il/upload/%28FILE%291300198331.pdf |year=2007 |journal=Studies in Conflict & Terrorism |volume=30 |issue=8 |pages=667–689 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121045437/http://www.inss.org.il/upload/%28FILE%291300198331.pdf |archive-date=November 21, 2015}}</ref> Bombers affiliated with these groups often use so-called "[[Explosive belt|suicide belts]]", [[explosive device]]s which often included [[Shrapnel (fragment)|shrapnel]] designed to be strapped to the body under clothing. To maximize the loss of life, the bombers seek out enclosed spaces, such as cafés or city [[bus]]es crowded with people at [[rush hour]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3256858.stm Analysis: Palestinian suicide bombings]. BBC News (2007-01-29); retrieved 2012-08-19.</ref> Less common are military targets such as soldiers waiting for transport at the roadside. These bombings have had more popular support than in other Muslim countries. More [[music videos]] and announcements that promise [[eternity|eternal]] reward for suicide bombers can be found on Palestinian television, according to [[Palestinian Media Watch]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pmw.org.il/tv%20part1.html |title=PA Indoctrination of Children to Seek Shahada |access-date=2008-11-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081112223611/http://www.pmw.org.il/tv%20part1.html |archive-date=November 12, 2008}}</ref><ref>[http://www.pmw.org.il/index.html Palestinian Media Watch official website] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050521025750/http://www.pmw.org.il/index.html |date=May 21, 2005}}, Pmw.org.il; retrieved 2012-08-19.</ref>{{better source needed| reason = propaganda site | date = June 2025}} Israeli sources observed that Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah operate "Paradise Camps", training children as young as 11 to become suicide bombers.<ref>[http://www.adl.org/PresRele/IslME_62/4153_62.asp "Palestinian Summer Camps Teach Terror Tactics, Espouse Hatred; Some Found to Be Funded by UNICEF"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050620082356/http://www.adl.org/PresRele/IslME_62/4153_62.asp |date=2005-06-20}}, adl.org; retrieved 2012-08-19.</ref><ref>[http://www.eufunding.org/Textbooks/EuropesPalestinianChildren.html Europe's Palestinian Children What Hope for Them?] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050308113828/http://www.eufunding.org/Textbooks/EuropesPalestinianChildren.html |date=March 8, 2005}}. Eufunding.org; retrieved 2012-08-19.</ref> In 2004, due to increased effectiveness in Israel's security measures and stricter checkpoint protocols, terrorist organizations began employing women and children more frequently as operatives, assuming that they would raise fewer suspicions and undergo less rigorous inspections.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Issacharoff |first=Avi |date=April 5, 2010 |title=Femme Fatale, Jihad Style |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2010-04-05/ty-article/femme-fatale-jihad-style/0000017f-e3e5-d804-ad7f-f3ff686a0000 |access-date=2023-10-14 | newspaper = [[Haaretz]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Myre |first=Greg |date=2004-03-25 |title=Israeli Soldiers Thwart a Boy's Suicide Bombing Attempt |language=en-US| newspaper = [[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/25/world/israeli-soldiers-thwart-a-boy-s-suicide-bombing-attempt.html |access-date=2023-10-14 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

The [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001, orchestrated by [[al-Qaeda]], were the deadliest attacks on American soil since the Japanese [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] which thrust the United States into [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Lidgett|first1=Adam|title=9/11 Attacks In Photos 2015: 15 Iconic Images From September 11, 2001 And Its Aftermath 14 Years Later|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/911-attacks-photos-2015-15-iconic-images-september-11-2001-its-aftermath-14-years-2091600|website=International Business Times|access-date=12 January 2016|date=Sep 11, 2015}}</ref> They involved the hijacking of four large passenger [[jet airliners]]. Unlike earlier airline hijackings, the primary focus was the planes instead of the passengers because their long transcontinental flight plans meant they carried more fuel, allowing a bigger explosion on impact.<ref name="lewis-2013" /> [[American Airlines Flight 11]] and [[United Airlines Flight 175]] were deliberately flown into the Twin Towers of the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] in [[New York City]], destroying both 110-story skyscrapers in less than two hours. [[American Airlines Flight 77]] was flown into [[the Pentagon]] ([[United States Department of Defense|U.S. Department Of Defense]] Headquarters) in [[Arlington County, Virginia]], causing severe damage to the west side of the building. These attacks resulted in the deaths of 221 people (including the 15 hijackers) on board the three planes as well as 2,731 more in and around the targeted buildings.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/americas/2001/day_of_terror|title=America's day of terror|work=BBC News|access-date=March 22, 2015}}</ref> [[United Airlines Flight 93]] crashed into a field near [[Shanksville, Pennsylvania]] after a revolt by the plane's passengers, killing all 44 people (including the four hijackers) on board.<ref name="NPR 3 September 2021" >{{cite news| title = Part of Flight 93 crashed on my land. I went back to the sacred ground 20 years later: The NPR Politics Podcast | url = https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1033059826 | work = [[NPR]] | date = 3 September 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rfi.fr/en/on-9-11-the-deadliest-attacks-in-history | title=On 9/11, the deadliest attacks in history | date=24 August 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nps.gov/flni/learn/historyculture/flight93story.htm | title=Call to Action - Flight 93 National Memorial (U.S. National Park Service) }}</ref> In total, the attacks killed [[Casualties of the September 11 attacks |2,996 people and injured more than 6,000 others]].<!-- copied note from linked page -->{{efn| Thousands more were injured.<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/09/11/nine-facts-about-terrorism-in-the-united-states-since-911/ | title = Nine facts about terrorism in the United States since 9/11| newspaper = The Washington Post | access-date = 26 November 2015 | date = 11 September 2013 | archive-date = 31 October 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171031233003/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/09/11/nine-facts-about-terrorism-in-the-united-states-since-911/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news| url = http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/27/us/september-11-anniversary-fast-facts/ | title = September 11th Fast Facts | date = 27 March 2015 |work=CNN| access-date = 14 May 2015 | archive-date = 3 June 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190603190712/https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/27/us/september-11-anniversary-fast-facts/|url-status=live}}</ref> The exact figure is unknown―some sources say 6,000.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Day of Remembrance | date = 9 February 2023 | url = https://ge.usembassy.gov/a-day-of-remembrance/ | publisher = U.S. Embassy in Georgia | access-date = 27 October 2022}}</ref> people were injured, while others go as high as 25,000.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Stempel|first=Jonathan| title = Accused 9/11 mastermind open to role in victims' lawsuit if not executed |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-sept-11-saudi-ksmohammed/accused-9-11-mastermind-open-to-role-in-victims-lawsuit-if-not-executed-idUSKCN1UO27M | access-date = February 9, 2023 | website = [[Reuters]] | date = 29 July 2019 |language=en}}</ref> }} The U.S. stock market closed for four trading days after the attacks in the first unscheduled close since the Great Depression.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/everything-you-need-know-about-stock-market-schedule | title=Everything You Need to Know About the Stock Market Schedule | website=www.nasdaq.com}}</ref> Nine days after the attack, [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[George W. Bush]] called for a "[[War on terror]]".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/911-wars-timeline | title=9/11 Wars: Timeline }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.cfr.org/timeline/how-911-reshaped-foreign-policy | title=Timeline: How 9/11 Reshaped Foreign Policy }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.georgewbushlibrary.gov/research/topic-guides/global-war-terror | title=Global War on Terror &#124; George W. Bush Library }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://millercenter.org/president/gwbush/foreign-affairs | title=George W. Bush: Foreign Affairs &#124; Miller Center | date=4 October 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/sept-11-attack.html|title=The 9/11 Terrorist Attacks|website=Naval History and Heritage Command}}</ref> Shortly thereafter he launched the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present) |War in Afghanistan]] to find and capture [[Osama bin Laden]], the leader of [[al-Qaeda]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/afghanistan-war-how-did-911-lead-to-a-20-year-war | title=Afghanistan War: How did 9/11 lead to a 20-year war? }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-war-afghanistan | title=Timeline: The U.S. War in Afghanistan }}</ref> A copy of [[The Revolt]], memour of the Irgun commander, was found in one of [[al-Qaeda]]'s training bases.<ref name="wotr" /><ref name="Hoffman 19 March 2015" >{{cite news | url=https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2015/03/19/long-long-road | title=Long, long road | newspaper=The Economist }}</ref>

[[File:After a VBIED Iraq War 2007-2008.jpg|thumb|left|The result of a car bombing in Iraq.]]

After the [[invasion of Iraq in 2003]] led by the U.S., [[Iraqi insurgency (Iraq War)|Iraqi and foreign insurgents]] carried out waves of suicide bombings. More attacks have been carried out in Iraq than in any other country, with 1,938 as of mid-2015.<ref name="CPOST-LOC-total" />

In addition to [[United States military]] targets, they attacked many civilian targets such as [[Shiite]] [[mosque]]s as well as international offices of the [[UN]] and the [[Red Cross]]. Iraqi men waiting to apply for jobs with the new army and [[police]] force were targets. In the lead up to the [[Iraqi parliamentary election, January 2005|Iraqi parliamentary election]] on 30 January 2005, suicide attacks upon civilian and police personnel involved with the [[election]]s increased. There were also reports of the insurgents co-opting disabled people as involuntary suicide bombers.<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/news/After-Saddam/Handicapped-boy-made-into-bomb/2005/02/01/1107228705132.html "Handicapped boy who was made into a bomb"], Smh.com.au, February 2, 2005; retrieved August 19, 2012.</ref>}

Shaheed (martyr) [[Benazir Bhutto]], former [[Prime Minister of Pakistan]] and leader of the [[Pakistan People's Party]] (PPP), was [[Assassination of Benazir Bhutto |assassinated in a terrorist attack]] on 27 December 2007.<ref name="injury">{{cite news | url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7161489.stm|title=Bhutto 'wounded in suicide blast'|work=BBC News|access-date=27 December 2007|date=27 December 2007|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071230053145/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7161489.stm|archive-date=30 December 2007| url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Pakistan's Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto Assassinated |date=27 December 2007 |publisher=Voice of America |url=http://voanews.com/english/archive/2007-12/2007-12-27-voa12.cfm |work=VOA News |access-date=27 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725141827/http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-12/2007-12-27-voa12.cfm |archive-date=25 July 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7161590.stm|title=Benazir Bhutto killed in attack|work=BBC News|access-date=27 December 2007|date=27 December 2007| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071228135135/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7161590.stm| archive-date=28 December 2007| url-status=live}}</ref> Benazir and 23 other people were killed by a 16-year-old [[suicide bomber]] using a [[explosive belt]] and [[Gun law in Pakistan|used a gun]].<ref name="exhumation">{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/12/29/bhutto.death/index.html|title=Bhutto exhumation OK, Pakistan official says|publisher=CNN|date=29 December 2007|access-date=1 March 2008|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080229074415/http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/12/29/bhutto.death/index.html|archive-date=29 February 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Bhutto had already survived a previous [[2007 Karsaz bombing | assassination attempt]] in [[Karachi]].<ref name = "Bhutto survived" >{{cite news | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7161590.stm | title = Benazir Bhutto killed in attack | work = BBC News | access-date = 27 December 2007 | date = 27 December 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071228135135/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7161590.stm | archive-date = 28 December 2007 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref name = nytimes_karachi>{{cite news | first = Carlotta | last = Gall | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/world/asia/19pakistan.html | title = Bomb Attack Kills Scores in Pakistan as Bhutto Returns | author2 = Masood, Salman | work = [[The New York Times]] | date = 19 October 2007 | access-date = 27 December 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081211012202/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/world/asia/19pakistan.html | archive-date = 11 December 2008 | url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/10/18/pakistan.explosions/index.html | publisher = CNN | title = Death toll rises in Bhutto attack | access-date = 27 December 2008 | date = 19 October 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071223111401/http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/10/18/pakistan.explosions/index.html#cnnSTCVideo | archive-date = 23 December 2007 | url-status = live}}</ref>
Following this, many schools and universities were named in honour of her martyrdom.{{efn|name=Benazir}}

Other major locations of suicide attack are Afghanistan, with 1,059 attacks as of mid-2015,<ref name="CPOST-LOC-total" /> and Pakistan, with 490 attacks.<ref name="CPOST-LOC-total" /> In the first eight months of 2008, Pakistan overtook Iraq and Afghanistan in suicide bombings, with 28 bombings killing 471 people.<ref>Shahan Mufti. {{cite journal |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1010/p04s03-wosc.html |title=Suicide attacks a growing threat in Pakistan |journal=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |access-date=2008-10-09 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221164358/http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1010/p04s03-wosc.html |archive-date=February 21, 2009}}. csmonitor.com.</ref> Suicide bombings have become a tactic in [[Chechnya]], first being used in the conflict in 2000 in Alkhan Kala.{{sfn |Pedahzur |2004 |p=112 }} and spreading to Russia, notably with the [[Moscow theater hostage crisis]] in 2002 and the [[Beslan school hostage crisis]] in 2004.<ref>{{cite news| url = http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1054699.html | title = Factbox: Major Terrorist Incidents Tied To Russian-Chechen War | work = Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty | date = 8 April 2008 | publisher = [[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]] Rferl.org | access-date = 22 March 2015}}</ref>{{better source needed| reason = government funded public diplomacy source |date=June 2025}}

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

Since 2006, {{lang|ar-Latn|[[Al-Shabaab (militant group)|al-Shabaab]]|italics=no}} has carried out major suicide attacks in [[Somali Civil War|Somalia]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1945398,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091207005106/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1945398,00.html|archive-date=December 7, 2009|magazine=Time|title=Suicide Bombing Marks a Grim New Turn for Somalia|access-date=March 22, 2015}}</ref> the worst year so far being 2016 with 28 attacks.

{{ anchor |2010s}}

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

{{ anchor |2020s}}
=== Individuals after 1980 ===
{{see also
 | Suicide attack #personal | label1 = 20th century personal disputes (above)
 | Suicide attack #Pilot suicides | label2 = Pilot suicides (above)
 | lone wolf
 | car bomb
}}
==== 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee ====
{{main| 2020 Nashville bombing }}
On 25 December 2020, a [[2020 Nashville bombing | suicide bombing occurred]] in [[Nashville, Tennessee]].{{cn | date = March 2025}}

==== 2025 in Palm Springs, California ====
{{main| 2025 Palm Springs fertility clinic bombing }}
On 17 May 2025, a 2010 silver [[Ford Fusion (Americas) | Ford Fusion]] sedan loaded with explosives [[2025 Palm Springs fertility clinic bombing | detonated outside the American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic]] in [[Palm Springs, California]], resulting in the death of the perpetrator, 25-year-old [[Guy Edward Bartkus]], and injuries to four others.<ref name = "NBCNews1" /><ref name = "intentional act" /><ref name = "nihilistic ideations" /> Nearby buildings were damaged and windows were shattered.<ref name = "FBI calls it" /><ref name = "Springs California" /> A [[tripod]] and camera were found at the scene.<ref name = "BalchanPost" /><ref name = "nihilistic ideations" /> The FBI called it an "intentional act of terrorism".<ref name = "Desert Sun" /><ref name = "FBI calls it" /> Bartkus reportedly identified himself as the perpetrator of the bombing in a [[martyrdom video |video posted online]], an audio recording, and [[manifesto]] in which he described himself as a "pro-mortalist" and said people did not give consent to exist.<ref name="Suspect identified" /> A 32 year old man named Daniel Jongyon Park was arrested for possible involvement.<ref name="Washington man" /><ref name="in connection with" /> Park was expelled from Poland to face prosecution on the United States.<ref name="Poland Park" />

=== Organised groups coordinating suicide attacks after 1980 ===
<!-- chronological order by first suicide attack -->

==== Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ====
The [[Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam]] were thought{{who|date=May 2025}} to have mastered{{tone-inline|date=May 2025}} the use of [[suicide attacks]] and had a separate unit, "The [[Black Tigers]]", consisting "exclusively of cadres who have volunteered to conduct suicide operations".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1703/17031060.htm|title=The LTTE and suicide terrorism|publisher=Hinduonnet.com|access-date=May 19, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100504204040/http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1703/17031060.htm|archive-date=May 4, 2010}}</ref>

==== Al-Qaeda ====
[[File:Mohamed Atta.jpg|thumb|upright|Mohamed Atta, the ringleader of the 9/11 attacks, who crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, is the deadliest suicide attacker in history, being directly responsible for over 1,600 deaths.]]

Analysis of the 9/11 [[al-Qaeda]] attackers found almost all had joined the group with someone else. About 70% of them joined with friends and 20% with kin. Interviews with friends of the 9/11 hijackers reveal they were not "recruited" into al-Qaeda. They were Middle Eastern Arabs isolated even among the Moroccan and Turkish Muslims who are predominate in Germany. Seeking friendship, they began socializing after services at the {{lang|ar-Latn|Masjad al-Quds|italics=no}} and other nearby mosques in [[Hamburg]], in local restaurants and the dormitory of the Technical University in the suburb of Harburg. [[Mohamed Atta]], [[Ramzi bin al-Shibh]], and [[Marwan al-Shehhi]] lived together as they self-radicalized. They wanted to go to [[Chechnya]], then [[Kosovo]].<ref name="ATRAN">{{cite web|last1=Atran|first1=Scott|title=The Making of a Terrorist: A Need for Understanding from the Field Testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security Washington, DC |url=http://sitemaker.umich.edu/satran/files/atran_congress_12march08.pdf |website=umich.edu |access-date=4 October 2015 |date=March 12, 2008}}</ref>

==== Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) ====
[[File:אתר דובר צהל - הפיגוע בבית ליד (2001).jpg|thumb|Wreckage vehicles after a 2001 suicide bombing in Beit Lid Junction]]

[[Hamas]]'s most sustained suicide bombing campaign from 2003 to 2004 involved several members of Hebron's {{lang|ar-Latn|Masjad|italics=no}} (mosque) al-Jihad soccer team. Most lived in the Wad Abu Katila neighborhood and belonged to the al-Qawasmeh {{lang|ar-Latn|[[hamula]]}} (clan). Several were classmates in the neighborhood's local branch of the Palestinian Polytechnic College. Their ages ranged from 18 to 22. At least eight team members were dispatched to suicide shooting and bombing operations by the Hamas military leader in Hebron, Abdullah al-Qawasmeh. Al-Qawasmeh was killed by Israeli forces in June 2003 and succeeded by his relatives Basel al-Qawasmeh, killed in September 2003, and Imad al-Qawasmeh, captured on 133 October 2004. In retaliation for the assassinations of Hamas leaders Sheikh [[Ahmed Yassin]] on 22 March 2004 and [[Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi]] on 17 April 2004, Imad al-Qawasmeh dispatched Ahmed al-Qawasmeh and Nasim al-Ja'abri for a suicide attack on two buses in Beer Sheva. The attack took place on 31 August 2004. In December 2004, Hamas declared a halt to suicide attacks.<ref name="ATRAN" />

On 15 January 2008, the son of [[Mahmoud al-Zahar]], the leader of Hamas in the [[Gaza Strip]], was killed. Another son had been killed in a 2003 assassination attempt on Zahar. Three days later, Israel Defense Minister [[Ehud Barak]] ordered the [[Israel Defense Forces]] to seal all border crossings with Gaza, cutting off the flow of supplies to the territory in an attempt to stop rocket barrages on Israeli border towns. Nevertheless, violence from both sides only increased. On 4 February 2008, friends Mohammed Herbawi and Shadi Zghayer, who were members of the Masjad al-Jihad soccer team, staged a suicide bombing at a commercial center in Dimona, Israel. Herbawi had previously been arrested as a 17-year-old on 15 March 2003 shortly after a suicide bombing on Haifa bus, which was done by Mamoud al-Qawasmeh on March 5, 2003. Herbawi had coordinated suicide shooting attacks on Israeli settlements by others on the team, such as on 7 March 2003 with an attack by Muhsein, Hazem al-Qawasmeh, Fadi Fahuri, and Sufian Hariz. He was also involved with another set of suicide bombings in Hebron and Jerusalem on 17 and 18 May 2003 by Fuad al-Qawasmeh, Basem Takruri, and Mujahed al-Ja'abri. Although Hamas claimed responsibility for the Dimona attack, the politburo leadership in Damascus and Beirut was initially unaware of who initiated and carried out the attack. It appears that Ahmad al-Ja'abri, military commander of Hamas's [[Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades]] in Gaza, requested the suicide attack through Ayoub Qawasmeh, Hamas's military liaison in Hebron, who knew where to look for eager young men who had self-radicalized together and had already mentally prepared themselves for martyrdom.<ref name="ATRAN" /><ref>[http://www.edge.org/q2008/q08_9.html#atran THE WORLD QUESTION CENTER 2008 (p. 9)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130407141943/http://www.edge.org/q2008/q08_9.html#atran |date=2013-04-07}}, Edge.org; retrieved August 19, 2012.</ref>

==== Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) ====
{{ further | Islamic State | Islamic State in Iraq and Syria | Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant | Islamic State – Khorasan Province }}

The self-declared "[[Islamic State]]" (ISIS){{efn| {{langx|ar|داعش|Da'esh}}, {{langx|he|דאעש|Da'esh}}.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.ynet.co.il/topics/%D7%93%D7%90%D7%A2%D7%A9 | title=דאעש | trans-title=ISIS | language=he | website=www.ynet.co.il}}</ref><ref> {{Cite web | url=https://www.kan.org.il/tags/generaltags/%D7%93%D7%90%D7%A2%D7%A9/ | title=דאעש | language=he | trans-title=ISIS | website=www.kan.org.il}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.israelhayom.co.il/tag/%D7%93%D7%90%D7%A2%D7%A9 | title=דאעש | language=he| trans-title=ISIS |website=www.israelhayom.co.il| date=12 May 2025 }}</ref> }} use suicide attacks against government targets before they attack. The attackers use a wide range of methods, from suicide vests and belts to bomb trucks and cars and APCs filled with explosives. Usually, the suicide bomber involved in a "martyrdom operation" will record his last words in a martyrdom video before they start their attack, which will be released after the suicide attack is done.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}
A study published by [[The Guardian]] in 2017 analyzed 923 attacks done between December 2015 and November 2016 and compared the military tactic to those used by {{lang|ja-Latn|kamikaze}} operations.<ref name="guardian2017">{{cite news |author=Jamie Gierson | title = Isis has industrialised martyrdom, says report into suicide attacks |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=February 28, 2017}}</ref> [[Charlie Winter]], the author of the study, said that ISIS had "industrialized the concept of martyrdom". 84% of suicide attacks were directed towards military targets, usually with armed vehicles. About 80% of the attackers were of Iraqi or Syrian origin.<ref name="guardian2017" /> According to the [[Institute for National Security Studies (Israel)|Institute for National Security Studies]], there were fewer suicide attacks worldwide in 2017, but more female suicide bombers participated in them. According to the institute, ISIS and al-Qaeda led the suicide terrorism.<ref>https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/politics/2018-01-07/ty-article/.premium/0000017f-e630-d97e-a37f-f77537560000</ref>

In 2017 and 2019, during the [[Sinai insurgency]], there were suicide bombings in the [[Gaza Strip]] by local ISIS sympathizers. ISIS are a global extremist group, with an ideology that fundamentally [[Islam and nationalism |opposes]] the [[Palestinian nationalism |Palestinian]] [[Islamic nationalism |nationalism]] of Hamas and the other groups above.<ref name="anti" >{{cite web | url = https://www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Marine-Corps-University-Press/MES-Publications/MES-Insights/Excommunicating-Hamas/ | title=MES Insights, vol. 14, no. 6 }}</ref> In 2017 two [[Hamas government in the Gaza Strip|Hamas government]] border guards were killed while attempting to intercept an ISIS suicide bomber at [[Rafah Crossing]].<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.arabnews.pk/node/1146196/middle-east | title=Hamas guard killed in rare suicide attack in Gaza Strip | date=18 August 2017 }}</ref><ref name="npr.org" >{{Cite web | url=https://www.npr.org/2018/01/15/578172703/what-effect-isis-declaration-of-war-against-hamas-could-have-in-the-middle-east | title=What Effect ISIS' Declaration Of War Against Hamas Could Have In The Middle East | date=2018-01-15 | website=www.npr.org}}</ref> The Hamas government responded to that bombing with a crackdown on followers of "[[Ideology of the Islamic State|deviant ideologies]]" (meaning ISIS and [[Islamist anti-Hamas groups in the Gaza Strip|similar groups]]).<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.arabnews.com/node/536401/amp | title=Cracking down on deviant ideology }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title= Hamas militant killed by suicide bomber in Gaza | url = https://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-gaza-suicide-bomber-20170817-story.html | work = [[Los Angeles Times]] | agency= [[Associated Press]] | date= 17 August 2017 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181029061613/http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-gaza-suicide-bomber-20170817-story.html | archive-date= 29 October 2018 | location= New York City (AP) and Los Angeles (LA Times) }}</ref>
In 2018, members of [[Sinai Province |ISIS in the Sinai]] "declared war" on Hamas, demanding Hamas release ISIS militants held in [[Human rights in the Gaza Strip|Gaza's prisons]].<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/10/world/middleeast/isis-hamas-sinai.html | title=ISIS Declares War on Hamas, and Gaza Families Disown Sons in Sinai (Published 2018) | work=The New York Times | date=10 January 2018 | last1=Abuheweila | first1=Iyad | last2=Kershner | first2=Isabel }}</ref> Then in 2019, another suicide attack – also attributed to ISIS – directly targeted [[Palestinian Civil Police Force |Gaza Strip police]].<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.state.gov/reports/country-reports-on-terrorism-2019/israel/ | title=Israel, West Bank, and Gaza }}</ref> Three police officers were killed,<ref name="reuters.com"> {{Cite web | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/world/explosions-hit-gaza-police-checkpoints-three-dead-officials-idUSKCN1VH2C3/ | title=Explosions hit Gaza police checkpoints, three dead - officials | website=www.reuters.com | date=2019-08-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.france24.com/en/20190828-deadly-explosions-police-checkpoints-gaza-strip | title=Deadly explosions hit police checkpoints in Gaza Strip | date=28 August 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.voanews.com/a/middle-east_officials-explosions-hit-gaza-police-checkpoints-three-dead/6174697.html | title = Officials: Explosions Hit Gaza Police Checkpoints, Three Dead | date=27 August 2019 }}</ref> all three victims were allegedly members of Hamas.<ref name="npasyria.com">{{cite news |date=28 August 2019 |title=Hamas: ISIS is behind the bombings in Gaza - North press agency | url = https://npasyria.com/en/43824/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20241109035438/https://npasyria.com/en/43824/ | archive-date = 9 November 2024 | website = npasyria.com | agency = [[North Press Agency]] }}</ref> Gaza's Security forces responded by arresting ten people whom they suspected were members of the cell who arranged the attack.

In the following years, ISIS members also carried out suicide attacks in different locations. In December 2018, according to the director of the [[Syrian Observatory for Human Rights]], [[Rami Abdul Rahman|Rami Abdel Rahman]], at least three suicide bombers blew themselves up inside the city of [[As-Suwayda]] in the [[Jabal al-Druze]] of southern [[Syria]]. This was in addition to suicide bombers who attacked seven villages in the surrounding suburbs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=183 הרוגים במתקפה של דאעש בדרום סוריה |url=https://www.kan.org.il/content/kan-news/global/242257/ |access-date=2025-06-22 |website=כאן {{!}} תאגיד השידור הישראלי |language=he}}</ref> According to [[The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center]], On January 2019, ISIS carried out a suicide bombing attack using a car bomb against a joint American-[[Kurdish population|Kurdish]] patrol.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Another ISIS suicide bombing attack targets Americans and Kurds; ISIS threatens more attacks - The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center |url=https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/another-isis-suicide-bombing-attack-targets-americans-kurds-isis-threatens-attacks/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20230127025720/https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/another-isis-suicide-bombing-attack-targets-americans-kurds-isis-threatens-attacks/ |archive-date=2023-01-27 |access-date=2025-06-22 |website=www.terrorism-info.org.il |language=en}}</ref> [[2021 Kabul airport attack]] was suicide bombing attack. In January 2021, ISIS claimed responsibility for a double suicide bombing in a [[Baghdad]] market that killed at least 32 people and wounded more than 100. It was the first major suicide attack by the Islamic State group in the previous three years.<ref>{{Cite news |last=הידיעות |first=סוכנויות |date=2021-01-28 |title=אחרי פיגוע קטלני: "חוסל מפקד דאעש בעיראק" |url=https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/HkJwMtxgO |access-date=2025-06-22 |work=Ynet |language=he}}</ref> In June 2025, the Syrian Interior Ministry announced a suicide attack carried out by a member of the Islamic State organization in [[Church]]. According to the statement, he shot at worshippers in a church and then blew himself up inside.<ref>{{Cite web |last=קייס |first=רועי |title=פיגוע קטלני בכנסייה בדמשק: 30 הרוגים, המחבל - פעיל דאעש |url=https://www.kan.org.il/content/kan-news/global/923876/ |access-date=2025-06-22 |website=כאן {{!}} תאגיד השידור הישראלי |language=he}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-06-22 |title=סוריה: מחבל של דאעש פתח באש והתפוצץ בכנסייה בדמשק, לפחות 15 נהרגו - וואלה חדשות |url=http://news.walla.co.il/item/3759555 |access-date=2025-06-22 |website=וואלה |language=he}}</ref>

== Age and gender ==
{{Multiple image
| align             = right
| direction         = horizontal
| image1            = 72nd Shinbu 1945 Kamikaze.jpg
| width             = 300px
| caption1          = 26 May 1945. Corporal [[Yukio Araki]], holding a puppy, with four other pilots of the [[72nd Shinbu Squadron |72nd ''Shinbu'' Squadron]] at [[Kaseda, Kagoshima|Bansei]], [[Kagoshima]]. Araki died the following day, at the age of 17, in a suicide attack on ships near [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]].
}}{{anchor|child suicide bomber|child suicide bombers|Child Suicide Bomber|Child Suicide Bombers|children|Children|teenagers|Teenagers|minors}}

=== Children and teenagers ===

<!-- summary of what is on his page -->[[Yukio Araki |Araki Yukio]] was born on 10 March 1928, at the age of fifteen he joined the [[Imperial Japanese Army Air Service]]'s Youth Pilot Training Program.<ref name="kamikazeimages.net" /> On 27 May 1945, Araki took off from Bansei Airfield, in [[Kagoshima Prefecture]],  on a ''[[kamikaze]]'' mission, flying a [[Mitsubishi Ki-51]].<ref name="Gordon" /> At the age of seventeen, Araki is one of the youngest known ''kamikaze'' pilots. It has been speculated that his plane was one of two that struck the USS ''Braine'', killing 66 of its crew; however, the ship did not sink.<ref name="kamikazeimages.net" /><ref name="bos carole" />

In [[Lebanon]] on 9 April 1985, [[Sana'a Mehaidli]], a 16-year-old member of the [[Syrian Social Nationalist Party]] (SSNP), detonated an explosive-laden vehicle that killed two Israeli soldiers and injured twelve more. She is believed to have been the first [[female suicide bomber]].<ref name="FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBERS" /><ref name="books.google.com" /><ref name="martinfrost.ws" /><ref name="Rajan" /> She is known as "the Bride of the South".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dI4wOL2ETqAC |title=Ambiguities of Domination: Politics, Rhetoric, and Symbols in Contemporary Syria |author=Lisa Wedeen |date= 1999-06-15|publisher=University of Chicago Press |access-date=2016-01-17|isbn=978-0-226-87788-4}}</ref>{{verify source| reason = age mentioned on her page | date = June 2025}} During the [[Lebanese Civil War]], female SSNP members bombed Israeli troops and the Israeli proxy militia, the [[South Lebanon Army]].{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}

=== Women ===
{{main| Female suicide bomber }}{{ anchor |Gender}}
[[File:Suicide bombing simulation 110521-F-QI434-130.jpg |thumb|240px| A female US Air Force officer playing the role of a suicide bomber during an exercise in 2011.]]

Suicide operatives are overwhelmingly male in most groups, but among [[Chechnya|Chechen]] rebels<ref>[http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/09/10/international/0910BOMBERSch.gif Women Armed for Terror], nytimes.com; accessed 22 March 2015</ref> and the [[Kurdistan Workers Party]] (PKK) women form the majority of the attackers.<ref>Pape, ''Dying to Win'', p. 209.</ref>

Female suicide bombers have been observed in many predominantly nationalist conflicts by a variety of organizations against both military and civilian targets. In February 2002, however, religious leader of [[Hamas]] [[Sheikh Ahmed Yassin]] issued a {{lang|ar-Latn|fatwa}} permitting women to participate in suicide attacks.<ref name="cook-2006" />

During the 1980s, the greatest number of female suicide attacks in any single year was five. By contrast, in 2008 alone there were 35 female suicide attackers and in 2014 there were 15 such attacks according to the [[Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism]] (CPOST) Suicide Attack Database.<ref>{{cite web|title = UChicago CPOST|url = http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php|website = cpostdata.uchicago.edu|access-date = 2015-12-10|archive-date = 2014-08-23|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140823175940/http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php}}</ref>

Sri Lanka's militant organization, the Black Wing Tigers, executed 330 suicide bombing attacks which were executed mainly by women. The group was formed in 1987 and was disbanded in 2009.{{ciation needed|date=June 2025}}

On 21 May 1991, former Indian Prime minister [[Rajiv Gandhi]] was assassinated by [[Thenmozhi Rajaratnam]], a member of the [[Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam]]. Approximately 30% of the organization's suicide bombings were carried out by women.<ref>{{cite book|title=Human Security Report 2005: War and Peace in the 21st Century|date=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=111|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rSIrNeFWIfcC&pg=PA111|access-date=13 October 2015|isbn=978-0-19-530739-9}}</ref>

The [[Chechen people|Chechen]] [[shahidka]]s (a Russian corruption of the Arabic [[Islamophobic trope #Shahid |word for martyr]]) have attacked Russian troops in [[Chechnya]] and Russian civilians elsewhere. For example, in the [[Moscow theater hostage crisis]].{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}

Women of the [[Kurdistan Workers' Party]] (PKK) have carried out suicide bombings primarily against [[Turkish Armed Forces]]. In some cases they strapped explosives to their abdomen to simulate pregnancy.<ref> Cragin, Kim; Daly, Sara A. (2009). {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GTN0481FXRYC&pg=PA66 |title=Women as Terrorists: Mothers, Recruiters, and Martyrs |date=8 June 2009 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-275-98909-5 |access-date=22 March 2015 }}</ref>{{rp|66}}

[[Wafa Idris]], under the [[Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade]], became the first Palestinian female suicide bomber on 28 January 2002, when she blew herself up on Jaffa Road in Central Jerusalem.<ref name="rajan" >{{cite book| last = Rajan | first = V.G. Julie | title = Women Suicide Bombers: narratives of violence |year=2011| publisher = Routledge | location = New York | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=d8CsAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA221 |isbn=978-0-415-55225-7}}</ref>{{rp|221}}

On 27 February 2002, Darine Abu Aisha carried out a suicide bombing at the Maccabim checkpoint of the Israeli army near Jerusalem. On the same day, [[Sheikh Ahmed Yassin]], the religious leader of the Palestinian [[Islamist]] militant group [[Hamas]], issued a {{lang|ar-Latn|fatwa}} that permitted women to participate in suicide attacks and stated that they would be rewarded in the afterlife.<ref name="cook-2006">Cook, Bernard A. (2006). [https://books.google.com/books?id=lyZYS_GxglIC&pg=PA315 ''Women and War: A Historical Encyclopedia from Antiquity to the Present''], ABC-CLIO; accessed March 22, 2015.</ref>{{rp|315}}

[[Ayat al-Akhras]], the third and youngest Palestinian female suicide bomber at age 18, killed herself and two Israeli civilians on 29 March 2002 by detonating explosives belted to her body in a supermarket. She had been trained by the [[Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades]], a group linked to the armed branch of [[Fatah]]. The killings gained widespread international attention due to Ayat's age and gender and the fact that one of the victims was also a teenage girl.{{ciation needed|date=June 2025}}

[[Hamas]] deployed its first female suicide bomber, [[Reem Riyashi]], on 14 January 2004. Al-Riyashi attacked [[Erez Crossing |Erez checkpoint]], killing 7 people.<ref name="rajan" />{{rp|171}}

Two female attackers attacked U.S. troops in Iraq on 5 August 2003. Whereas female suicide bombers are not typically introduced in initial stages of a conflict, this attack demonstrated the early and significant involvement of Iraqi women in the Iraq War.<ref name="rajan" />{{rp|284}}

On 29 March 2010, two female Chechen terrorists [[2010 Moscow Metro bombings|bombed two Moscow subway stations]] killing at least 38 people and injuring more than 60 people.{{ciation needed|date=June 2025}}

The Taliban has used at least one female suicide bomber in Afghanistan.<ref>[https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/female-suicide-bomber-kills-15-at-crowded-afghan-market-1.709104 "Female suicide bomber kills 15 at crowded Afghan market"], CBC News, May 15, 2008; retrieved April 29, 2012.</ref>

On 25 December 2010, the first female suicide bomber in Pakistan detonated her explosives-laden vest, killing at least 43 people at an aid distribution center in northwestern Pakistan.<ref>[http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/12/25/2010-12-25_female_suicide_bomber_kills_dozens_at_pakistan_food_center_after_militants_kille.html "Female suicide bomber kills dozens at Pakistan food center after militants killed near Afghan border"], nydailynews.com, December 25, 2010; retrieved April 29, 2012.</ref>

On 29 December 2013, a female Chechen suicide bomber detonated her vest in the [[Volgograd]] railway station killing at least 17 people.<ref>{{cite news|title=Suicide bomber kills several at train station in Russia|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/female-suicide-bomber-kills-several-at-train-station-in-russia/|access-date=13 October 2015|agency=CBS News|date=December 29, 2013}}</ref>

On 23 December 2016, the first female suicide bomber in Bangladesh detonated her explosive during a police raid.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2016/12/24/bangladesh-sees-first-female-suicide-bomber/ |title=Bangladesh's female jihadists |newspaper=Dhaka Tribune |date=2016-12-23 |access-date=2016-12-27}}</ref>

According to a report issued by intelligence analysts in the U.S. army in 2011, "Although women make up roughly 15% of the suicide bombers within groups which utilize females, they were responsible for 65% of assassinations; 20% of women who committed a suicide attack did so with the purpose of assassinating a specific individual, compared with 4% of male attackers." The report further stated that female suicide bombers often were "grieving the loss of family members [and] seeking revenge against those they feel are responsible for the loss, unable to produce children, [and/or] dishonored through sexual indiscretion."<ref>[http://publicintelligence.net/ufouo-u-s-army-female-suicide-bombers-report U.S. Army Female Suicide Bombers Report (p. 71)], publicintelligence.net; accessed July 11, 2015.</ref><ref>[http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3198362,00.html Study: Female suicide bombers seek atonement], ynetnews.com; accessed 22 March 2015</ref> Male suicide bombers are presented as being motivated more by political factors than female suicide bombers are.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rajan|first=V.G. Julie|title=Women Suicide Bombers: narratives of violence|year=2011|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d8CsAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA79|isbn=978-0-415-55225-7|page=79}}</ref>

Another study of suicide bombers from 1981 and July 2008 {{when| reason = "from … and" ? "from … to" ? or just two timepoints? | date = June 2025}} by Lindsey A. O'Rourke found female bombers are generally in their late twenties, significantly older than their male counterparts.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal|last1=O'Rourke|first1=L.A.|title=What Special About Female Suicide Terrorism?|journal=Security Studies|date=2009|volume=18|issue=4|pages=681–718|doi=10.1080/09636410903369084|s2cid=55378946}}</ref>

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

==== Gendered motivations ====
{{further| female suicide bombers }}

In some traditions,{{who|date=April 2025}} women are customarily seen as peace-makers rather than as front-line actors in conflicts.<ref>Clonan, Tom. "The History of Women in Combat." Technological School of Dublin, School of Media, 1998, pp. 117-162</ref> This stereotype has made them useful as suicide bombers, because they might be underestimated and thus be able to enter target areas inconspicuously, leading to more lethal suicide attacks.<ref>O'Rourke, L. "What's Special about Female Suicide Terrorism." Security Studies. Vol. 18. 2009. Pp. 681-718</ref> Whether women's motivations for becoming suicide bombers generally differ from men's remains a pertinent question. Bloom has suggested some salient reasons for women to turn to suicide bombings, such as "to avenge a personal loss, to redeem the family name, to escape a life of sheltered monotony and achieve fame, or to equalize the patriarchal societies in which they live."<ref name="Bloom 2007">{{Cite journal |last=Bloom |first=Mia |date=2007 |title=Female Suicide Bombers: A Global Trend |journal=Daedalus |volume=136 |issue=1 |pages=94–102 |doi=10.1162/daed.2007.136.1.94 |jstor=20028092 |issn=0011-5266}}</ref> Some earlier literature suggested that women tend to be motivated by personal trauma rather than by ideological reasons.<ref name="Bloom 2007" /> Other researchers disagree with this assessment and state that it reduces women's political agency, seeing as they are just as capable of making a choice based on ideology.<ref>Gowrinathan, Nimmi. "Evident Truths: American Women at War." Los Angeles Review of Books, LA Review of Books, 2 Apr. 2021, lareviewofbooks.org/article/evident-truths-american-women-at-war/.</ref> Women's as well as men's usual motivations for becoming suicide bombers should be assumed to be nuanced and complex.<ref>Amireh, Amal. "Palestinian Women's Disappearing Act: The Suicide Bomber through Western Feminist Eyes." MIT Electronic Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 5, Spring 2005. Pp. 228-242 </ref>

== Tactics and response ==
{{further
| counterterrorism
| public diplomacy
| public diplomacy of Israel
| public diplomacy of the United States
| public diplomacy of Pakistan
| war on terrorism
| bulldozer politics
}}
=== Strategy and advantages ===

According to author Jeffrey William Lewis, success campaigns of suicide bombing require: willing individuals, organizations to train and use them, and a society willing to accept such acts in the name of a greater good.<ref name="lewis-2013" /> The organizations work to guarantee individual suicide bombers that they "will be remembered as martyrs dying for their communities". By imbuing suicide attacks with "reverence and heroism", it becomes more attractive to recruits.<ref name="lewis-2013" /> According to Yoram Schweitzer, modern suicide terrorism is "aimed at causing devastating physical damage, through which it inflicts profound fear and anxiety". Its goal is not to produce a negative psychological effect only on the victims of the actual attack, but on the entire target population.<ref name="ICT-STDC" /> Attackers themselves have often framed suicide attacks as acts of courageous self-sacrifice made necessary by the superior military or security strength of the enemy. The technique has also been called "the atomic weapon of the weak".<ref name="Schweitzer-2010">{{cite journal|last1=Schweitzer|first1=Yoram|title= The Rise and Fall of Suicide Bombings in the Second Intifada|journal=Strategic Assessment |date=October 2010|volume=13|issue=3|url=http://www.inss.org.il/uploadimages/Import/%28FILE%291289896644.pdf|access-date=21 October 2015}}</ref> According to Sheikh [[Ahmed Yassin]], the former leader of Hamas, "Once we have warplanes and missiles, then we can think of changing our means of legitimate self-defense. But right now, we can only tackle the fire with our bare hands and sacrifice ourselves".<ref>Quoted in [[Mia Bloom]] (2005), ''Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror'' (New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 3–4; {{ISBN|0-231-13320-0}}.</ref> While this arguably explains the motivation of many early suicide bombings in the 1980s and 90s, it cannot explain many later attacks, such as those on funeral processions of the minority Shia in Pakistan.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

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

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

=== Tactics ===

Various groups adapt their strategies to suit specific targets. For example, in the 1980s, [[Hezbollah]] favored the use of explosive-laden cars, while the [[Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam|LTTE]] in [[Sri Lanka]] employed tactics involving explosive-laden boats. Palestinian organizations in the 1990s refined an approach involving suicide bombers with [[explosive belt]]s, influencing groups like the [[Chechens]] and the [[Kurdistan Workers' Party|PKK]]. In contemporary Iraq, local factions have utilized explosive-laden vehicles to target heavily guarded military facilities.<ref name="Moghadam 2006" />

=== Response ===
{{see also| Ilan Pape }}

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

In the [[West Bank]], the [[Israel Defense Forces|IDF]] has at times [[Demolition|demolished]] homes that belong to families whose children or landlords whose tenants had volunteered for such missions, whether completed or not.<ref>''[http://www.btselem.org/download/200411_Punitive_House_Demolitions_Eng.pdf Through No Fault of Their Own: Punitive House Demolitions during the al-Aqsa Intifada]'' [[B'Tselem]], November 2004</ref> An internal review starting in October 2004 brought an end to the policy, but it was resumed in 2014.<ref>{{cite web| author = Ed Farrian | url = http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Law/Legal+Issues+and+Rulings/Human+Rights+Issues+for+the+Palestinian+population+-+April+2005.htm | title = Human Rights Issues for the Palestinian population | date = April 2005 | publisher = [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel)]] | website = mfa.gov.il | access-date = 11 July 2015 }}</ref> Other military measures taken during the suicide attack campaign included: a widescale re-occupation of the West Bank and blockading of Palestinian towns; "targeted assassinations" of militants, an approach used since the 1970s; raids against militants suspected of plotting attacks; mass arrests; curfews; stringent travel restrictions; and physical separation from Palestinians via the {{convert|650|km|mi}} [[Israeli West Bank barrier]] in and around the West Bank.<ref name="BBC-2007" /><ref>{{cite web|title=Frontline: Shattered Dreams of Peace|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/oslo/negotiations/|website=PBS.ORG|access-date=21 October 2015|quote=On March 29, 2002, after a suicide bomber killed 30 people, Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield. Israel's troops re-entered Palestinian cities and refugee camps, hunting down terrorists and often leaving massive destruction in their wake. Three months later, in mid-June 2002, two more suicide bombings struck Israel. Sharon announced Israel would immediately begin a policy of taking back land in the West Bank, and holding it, until the terror attacks stopped.}}</ref> The [[Second Intifada]] and its suicide attacks are often dated as ending around the time of an unofficial ceasefire with some of the most powerful Palestinian militant groups in 2005.<ref name="BBC-2007">{{cite news|title=Analysis: Palestinian suicide attacks|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3256858.stm|access-date=13 October 2015|agency=BBC News|date=29 January 2007}}</ref>  A new "[[Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015)|knife intifada]]" started in September 2015. Still, although many Palestinians were killed in the process of stabbing or attempting to stab Israelis, their deaths were not "a precondition for the success" of their mission and so are not considered suicide attacks by many observers.<ref name="ICT-STDC" />

In the United States, the element of suicide in the 9/11 attacks persuaded many that previously unthinkable, "out of the box" strategic policies in a "[[war on terrorism]]" were necessary. This included "preventive war" against countries not immediately attacking the U.S., to almost unlimited surveillance of virtually any person in the United States by the government without normal congressional and judicial oversight.<ref name="NPR-USTaHTOSI">[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130492404 Understanding Suicide Terrorism And How To Stop It], npr.org; accessed 22 March 2015</ref> These responses "produced their own costs and risks—in lives, national debt, and America's standing in the world".<ref name="NPR-USTaHTOSI" />

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

=== Results ===
[[File:IDF-Caterpillar-D9N-1133.jpg |thumb| Early Israeli construction of West Bank barrier in 2003.]]

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

Other groups have had mixed results. The [[Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam]] (LTTE) pioneered the use of suicide bombings against civilian and political targets. In 2000, Yoram Schweitzer called the LTTE "unequivocally the most effective and brutal terrorist organization ever to utilize suicide terrorism".<ref name="ICT-STDC" /> Their struggle for an [[Independence|independent]] state in the [[Northern Province, Sri Lanka|North]] and [[Eastern Province, Sri Lanka|East]] of the island lasted for 26 years and led to the deaths of two heads of state or government, several ministers, and up to 100,000 combatants and civilians, from by a [[UN]] estimate.<ref>{{Cite news| url =http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/20/2576543.htm | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090524162659/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/20/2576543.htm | archive-date =24 May 2009 | title =Up to 100,000 killed in Sri Lanka's civil war: UN| publisher = [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]|date = 20 May 2009}}</ref> Politically, its attacks succeeded in halting the deployment of the Indian peace keeping troops to Sri Lanka and the subsequent postponement of the peace-talks in Sri Lanka.<ref name="ICT-STDC" /> Nonetheless, the conflict ended in May 2009 not with an independent [[Tamil Eelam|Eelam]], but with the overrunning of LTTE strongholds and the killing of its leadership by the Sri Lankan military and security forces.{{ciation needed|date=April 2025}}

It is more difficult to determine whether Palestinian suicide bombings have proved to be a successful political tactic. Hamas "came to prominence" after the first intifada as "the main Palestinian opponent of the [[Oslo Accords]]", the US-sponsored peace process that oversaw the gradual and partial removal of Israel's occupation in return for Palestinian guarantees to protect Israeli security.<ref name="BBC-Hamas-2009" /> according to the BBC.<ref name="BBC-Hamas-2009">{{cite news|title=Who are Hamas?|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1654510.stm|access-date=14 November 2015|agency=BBC News|date=4 January 2009}}</ref><ref>[http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+before+2000/Fatal+Terrorist+Attacks+in+Israel+Since+the+DOP+-S.htm Fatal Terrorist Attacks in Israel Since the DOP (September 1993)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206172711/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+before+2000/Fatal+Terrorist+Attacks+in+Israel+Since+the+DOP+-S.htm |date=2010-12-06}}, Mfa.gov.il; retrieved August 19, 2012.</ref> The accords were sidetracked after the 1996 election of right-wing Israeli leader [[Benjamin Netanyahu]]. From 1994 to 1997, there were 14 suicide attacks that killed 159, not all of which were attributed to Hamas.<ref>{{cite web|title=Year: 1982–2015. Group|url=http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|website=Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism Suicide Attack Database|access-date=2015-11-20|archive-date=2016-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124204240/http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1}} Click "Search Database", then under "filter by", click "location", click Israel and after getting the results click "year".</ref> Hamas's suicide bombings of Israeli targets "were widely" credited for the popularity among Israelis of the hardline Netanyahu,<ref name="BBC-Hamas-2009" /> who was a staunch opponent of the [[Oslo accords]], but an even stauncher enemy of Hamas.{{ciation needed|date=May 2025}}

The efficacy of suicide bombing, however, does not appear to have been demonstrated by the [[al-Aqsa Intifada]]. During this Intifada, the number of suicide attacks increased markedly. In the first campaign from 1994 to 1997, there were 14 suicide attacks, in the second from 2001 to 2005, there were 93 attacks.<ref>(Click "Search Database", then under "filter by", click "location", click Israel and after getting the results click "year".){{cite web|title=Year: 1982–2015. Group|url=http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1|website=Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism Suicide Attack Database|access-date=2015-11-20|archive-date=2016-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124204240/http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1}}</ref> These attacks petered out around 2005 following harsh Israeli security measures, such as "targeted assassinations" of Palestinians reportedly involved in terrorism, and the building of a "[[Israeli West Bank barrier|separation barrier]]" that severely hampered Palestinian travel, but with no withdrawal by the Israelis from any occupied territory.{{ciation needed|date=April 2025}}

The drop in suicide bombings in Israel has been explained by the many security measures taken by the Israeli government,<ref name="Schweitzer-2010" /><ref name="BBC-2007" /> especially the building of the "separation barrier",<ref>{{cite web|last1=Weinstein|first1=Jamie|title=Barrier's Success Counted In Lives|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2004-02-02/news/0401300663_1_west-bank-barrier-sound-barriers-suicide-bombings|website=Sun-Sentinel|date=February 2, 2004|access-date=August 1, 2014|archive-date=August 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811072549/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2004-02-02/news/0401300663_1_west-bank-barrier-sound-barriers-suicide-bombings}}</ref><ref name="HuffPost-2013" /> and a general consensus among Palestinians that the bombings were a "losing strategy".<ref name="HuffPost-2013">{{cite news|last1=Steves|first1=Rick|title=The Security Fence, the Anti-Terrorism Barrier, the Wall|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rick-steves/the-security-fence-the-an_b_4296601.html|access-date=13 October 2015|agency=HuffPost|date=2013-11-18}}</ref> The suicides and other attacks on civilians had "a major impact" on the attitudes of the Israeli public.<ref name="Waxman-2011" /> Instead of creating demoralization, the attacks generated even greater support for the right-wing [[Likud]] party which brought to office another hardliner, the former general [[Ariel Sharon]]. In 2001, 89% of Israeli Jews supported the Sharon government's policy of "targeted assassinations" of Palestinian militants involved in terrorism against Israel, the number rising to 92% in 2003.<ref name="Waxman-2011">{{cite journal|last1=Waxman|first1=Dov|title=Living with terror, not Living in Terror: The Impact of Chronic Terrorism on Israeli Society |journal=Perspectives on Terrorism|date=2011|volume=5|issue=5–6|url=http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/living-with-terror/html|access-date=14 October 2015|quote=Palestinian terrorism during the second Intifada clearly affected the political preferences of the Israeli electorate. Sharon's resounding victory in the 2001 election was one indication of this effect. Another was the Likud party's decisive win in the 2003 Knesset elections, doubling the number of its seats in parliament (from 19 to 38), while the rival pro-negotiation center-left Labor party lost seven seats (dropping from 26 to 19 seats). Not only did Palestinian terrorism boost the electoral appeal of the political right in Israel, it also helped to bring about a rightward shift in the political positions of the Israeli public. In general, more Israelis identified themselves as right-wing and fewer as left-wing. ... Palestinian terrorism ... had a major impact on their attitudes towards the use of force against Palestinians. Israeli Jews became much more militant and 'hawkish.' ... Angry and embittered by the seemingly endless series of gruesome Palestinian suicide bombings inside Israel, the vast majority of the Israeli public staunchly supported the Sharon government's offensive military measures against the Palestinians. In 2001, for instance, 89 percent of Israeli Jews supported the Sharon government's policy of "targeted assassinations" of Palestinian militants involved in terrorism against Israel}}</ref> Opinion polls of the Jewish Israelis found 78{{endash}}84% supported the "[[Israeli West Bank barrier|separation barrier]]" in 2004.<ref>[https://www.haaretz.com/1.4751323 Peace Index / Most Israelis support the fence, despite Palestinian suffering] – Haaretz&nbsp;— Israel News&nbsp;— Ephraim Yaar, Tamar Hermann&nbsp;— March 10, 2004</ref>

In the case of the [[9/11 attacks]] in the U.S., at least in the short term, the results were negative for Al-Qaeda, as well as the [[Taliban]]. Since the attacks, Western nations have diverted massive resources towards stopping similar actions, as well as increasing [[border]] security, and military actions against various countries believed to have been involved with terrorism.<ref>{{cite book|title=Servamus, Volume 99|date=2006|publisher=SARP-Uitgevers|page=17|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yDgFAQAAIAAJ&q=have+diverted+massive+resources+towards+stopping+similar+actions,+as+well+as+tightening+up+borders,|access-date=15 October 2015}}</ref> Critics of the [[War on Terrorism]] suggest the results were negative, as the subsequent actions of the United States and other countries has increased the number of recruits and their willingness to carry out suicide bombings.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

== Attacker profiles and motivations ==
{{Original research section|date=July 2021}}

Studies of who becomes a suicide attacker and what motivates them have often come to different conclusions. According to Riaz Hassan,<ref name="What Motivates" />
{{blockquote|apart from one demographic attribute—that the majority of suicide bombers tend to be young males—the evidence has failed to find a stable set of demographic, psychological, socioeconomic and religious variables that can be causally linked to suicide bombers' personality or socioeconomic origins.}}
Anthropologist [[Scott Atran]] wrote,
"[Terrorists] are not sufficiently different from everyone else. Insights into homegrown jihadi attacks will have to come from understanding group dynamics, not individual psychology. Small-group dynamics can trump individual personality to produce horrific behavior in otherwise ordinary people.{{sfn|Atran|2006|p=128}}
Atran's research has found that the attacks are not organized from the top down, but occur from the bottom up. It is usually a matter of following one's friends and ending up in environments that foster [[groupthink]]. Atran is also critical of the claim that terrorists simply crave destruction; rather, they are often motivated by beliefs they hold sacred, as well as their moral reasoning.{{sfn|Atran|2006|p=136}}

A study of the remains of 110 suicide bombers in Afghanistan for the first part of 2007 by Afghan pathologist Yusef Yadgari found 80% were suffering from physical ailments such as missing limbs (before the blasts), cancer, or leprosy. Also, in contrast to earlier findings of suicide bombers, the Afghan bombers were "not celebrated like their counterparts in other Arab nations. Afghan bombers are not featured on posters or in videos as martyrs".<ref> [[Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson]]. [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15276485 Disabled Often Carry Out Afghan Suicide Missions], npr.org; retrieved March 22, 2015.</ref>

[[Robert Pape]], director of the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism, found the majority of suicide bombers came from the educated middle classes. For example, [[Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi|Humam Balawi]], who perpetrated the [[Camp Chapman attack]] in Afghanistan in 2010, was a medical doctor.<ref>Joby Warrick, ''The Triple Agent'', New York: Doubleday, 2011. p. 37<!--ISBN, year of publication needed--></ref>

A 2004 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", with countries "in some intermediate range of political freedom" more prone to terrorism than countries with "high levels" of political freedom or countries with "highly authoritarian regimes". "When governments are weak, political instability is elevated, so conditions are favorable for the appearance of terrorism".<ref>Alberto Abadie. {{cite web |date=October 2004 |title=Poverty, Political Freedom, and the Roots of Terrorism |url=http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/aabadie/povterr.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123104136/http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/aabadie/povterr.pdf |archive-date=November 23, 2015 |access-date=October 22, 2015}}</ref><ref>[http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/11.04/05-terror.html Freedom squelches terrorist violence] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919050732/http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/11.04/05-terror.html|date=2015-09-19}}. News.harvard.edu; November 4, 2004; accessed August 19, 2012.</ref> A 2020 study found that while well-educated and economically well-off individuals are more likely to be behind suicide terrorism, it is not because these individuals self-select into suicide terrorism, but rather because terrorist groups are more likely to select high-quality individuals to commit suicide terrorist attacks.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Morris |first=Andrea Michelle |year=2020 |title=Who Wants to Be a Suicide Bomber? Evidence from Islamic State Recruits |journal=International Studies Quarterly |language=en |volume=64 |issue=2 |pages=306–315 |doi=10.1093/isq/sqaa012}}</ref>

Pape found that among [[Islamic terrorism|Islamic suicide terrorists]], 97 percent were unmarried and 84 percent were male. If the [[Kurdistan Workers' Party]] was excluded, this changed to be 91 percent male.<ref name="Pape-2003" /> A study conducted by the [[United States Armed Forces|U.S. military]] in [[Iraq]] in 2008 found that suicide bombers were almost always single men without children aged 18 to 30, with a mean age of 22, and were typically students or employed in [[Blue-collar worker|blue-collar occupations]].<ref>{{cite news |date=March 15, 2008 |title=U.S. study draws portrait of Iraq bombers |work=[[USA Today]] |url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2008-03-15-iraq-study_N.htm |access-date=February 27, 2020}}</ref> In a 2011 doctoral thesis, anthropologist Kyle R. Gibson reviewed three studies documenting 1,208 suicide attacks from 1981 to 2007 and found that countries with higher [[polygyny]] rates correlated with greater production of suicide terrorists.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harmon |first1=Vanessa |last2=Mujkic |first2=Edin |last3=Kaukinen |first3=Catherine |last4=Weir |first4=Henriikka |year=2018 |title=Causes & Explanations of Suicide Terrorism: A Systematic Review |url=https://www.hsaj.org/articles/14749 |journal=Homeland Security Affairs |publisher=[[Center for Homeland Defense and Security|NPS Center for Homeland Defense and Security]] |volume=25}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Gibson |first=Kyle R. |year=2011 |title=The Roles of Operational Sex Ratio and Young-Old Ratio in Producing Suicide Attackers |publisher=[[University of Utah]] |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260059007}}</ref> Political scientists [[Valerie M. Hudson]] and Bradley Thayer noted that countries where polygyny is widely practiced tend to have higher [[List of countries by intentional homicide rate|homicide rates]] and [[Rape statistics|rates of rape]]. The pair have argued that because [[Polygyny in Islam|Islam is the only major religious tradition where polygyny is still largely condoned]], the higher degrees of marital inequality in [[Muslim world|Islamic countries]] compared to most of the world causes them to have larger populations susceptible to suicide terrorism. Hudson and Theyer contended that [[Houri|promises of harems of virgins]] for [[Shahid|martyrdom]] serves as a mechanism to mitigate [[In-group and out-group|in-group]] conflict within Islamic countries by redirecting their violence towards out-groups.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hudson |first1=Valerie M. |author-link1=Valerie M. Hudson |last2=Thayer |first2=Bradley |year=2010 |title=Sex and the Shaheed: Insights from the Life Sciences on Islamic Suicide Terrorism |journal=[[International Security (journal)|International Security]] |publisher=[[MIT Press]] |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=48–53 |jstor=40784561}}</ref>

Along with his research on the [[Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam |Tamil Tigers]], Scott Atran found that Palestinian jihadist groups such as [[Hamas]] provide monthly [[stipend]]s, [[Lump sum|lump-sum payments]], and prestige to the families of suicide terrorists.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Atran |first=Scott |author-link=Scott Atran |year=2003 |title=Genesis of Suicide Terrorism |url=https://jeannicod.ccsd.cnrs.fr/ijn_00509568/file/genesis_of_Suicide_terrorism.pdf |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |publisher=[[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] |volume=299 |issue=5612 |pages=1534–1539 |bibcode=2003Sci...299.1534A |doi=10.1126/science.1078854 |pmid=12624256 |s2cid=12114032}}</ref>{{sfn|Atran|2006|p=127-147}} Cognitive scientist [[Steven Pinker]] argues in ''[[The Better Angels of Our Nature]]'' (2011) that because the families of men in the [[West Bank]] and [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]] often cannot afford [[bride price]]s and that many potential brides end up in polygynous marriages, the financial compensation of an act of suicide terrorism can buy enough brides for a man's brothers to have children to make the self-sacrifice pay off in terms of [[kin selection]] and [[Fitness (biology)|biological fitness]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Pinker |first=Steven |title=The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined |title-link=The Better Angels of Our Nature |publisher=[[Penguin Group]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-14-312201-2 |place=New York |pages=353–358 |author-link=Steven Pinker}}</ref>

Motivations vary greatly and are different in the case of each individual. Fanaticism (nationalist, religious, or both) may result from brain-washing, negative experiences regarding "the enemy", and the lack of a perspective in life. Suicide attackers may want to hurt or kill their targets because they hold them responsible for all bad things that have happened to them or in the world, or simply just because they want to escape misery and poverty.<ref>Artur Lakatos, "War, Martyrdom and Suicide Bombers: Essay on Suicide Terrorism", in Cultura. International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology, Issue 14/2010, pp 171–180</ref> Based on biographies of more than seven hundred foreign fighters uncovered at an Iraqi insurgent camp, researchers believe that the motivation for suicide missions at least in Iraq was not "the global jihadi ideology", but "an explosive mix of desperation, pride, anger, sense of powerlessness, local tradition of resistance, and religious fervor".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hassan|first1=Riaz|title=What Motivates the Suicide Bombers?|url=http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/what-motivates-suicide-bombers-0|website=YaleGlobe|access-date=13 October 2015|date=3 September 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004215906/http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/what-motivates-suicide-bombers-0|archive-date=4 October 2013}}</ref> A study by German scholar Arata Takeda analyzes analogous behavior represented in literary texts from the antiquity through the 20th century, these being ''[[Ajax (Sophocles)|Ajax]]'', ''[[Samson Agonistes]]'', ''[[The Robbers]]'', and ''[[The Just Assassins]]''. The study concluded "that suicide bombings are not the expressions of specific cultural peculiarities or exclusively religious fanaticisms. Instead, they represent a strategic option of the desperately weak who strategically disguise themselves under the mask of apparent strength, terror, and invincibility."<ref>{{cite journal |author=Takeda, Arata |year=2010 |title=Suicide bombers in Western literature: Demythologizing a mythic discourse |journal=Contemporary Justice Review |volume=13 |issue=4 |page=471 |doi=10.1080/10282580.2010.517985 |s2cid=54018791}}</ref><ref>Takeda, Arata (2010), ''Ästhetik der Selbstzerstörung: Selbstmordattentäter in der abendländischen Literatur'' (p. 296), Munich: Fink; {{ISBN|978-3-7705-5062-3}}.</ref>

Criminal justice professor Adam Lankford argues that suicide terrorists are not psychologically normal or stable. They are motivated to suicide and killing to mask their desire to die beneath a "veneer of heroic action" because of the religious consequences of killing themselves outright.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Martin|first1=Cameron|title=BOOK REVIEWS. The Myth of Martyrdom|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2013/0218/The-Myth-of-Martyrdom|access-date=23 October 2015|agency=csmonitor.com|date=February 18, 2013}}</ref> He has identified more than 130 individual suicide terrorists, including 9/11 ringleader [[Mohamed Atta]], with classic suicidal risk factors such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, other mental health problems, drug addictions, serious physical injuries or disabilities, having suffered the unexpected death of a loved one, or other personal crises.{{sfn|Lankford|2013| p = 61 }}

=== Nationalist resistance and religion ===
[[File:Flickr - Israel Defense Forces - Poster Glorifying Suicide Bomber Found in Jenin.jpg|thumb|A 2002 [[Commemorative posters in Palestine|Commemorative poster]] of [[Palestinian Islamic Jihad]] suicide bomber Ashraf Sallah Alasmar in [[Jenin]].]]

To what extent attackers are motivated by religious enthusiasm, by resistance to perceived outsider oppression, or some combination of the two is disputed.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}

According to [[Robert Pape]], director of the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism, as of 2005, 95 percent of suicide attacks have the same specific strategic goal. This goal is to cause an occupying state to withdraw forces from a disputed territory, making nationalism their principal motivation rather than religion.<ref> Pape, ''Dying to Win'', p. 128</ref>

Alternately, another source found that in Lebanon from 1983 to 1999, it was Islamists who influenced secular nationalists. Their use of suicide attacks spread to the secular groups. Five Lebanese groups "espousing a non-religious nationalist ideology" followed the lead of Islamist groups in attacking by suicide, "impressed by the effectiveness of Hezbollah's attacks in precipitating the withdrawal of the 'foreigners' from Lebanon".<ref name="ICT-STDC" /> In Israel suicide attacks by Islamist Islamic Jihad and Hamas also preceded those of the secular [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine|PFLP]] and the [[Al-Fatah]]-linked [[Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades]].{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}
However, the first suicide attack in post-independence Israel was in 1972, by foreign fighters from the [[Japanese Red Army]] (a secular militant group) allied to [[PFLP-EO]] unit (a secular group, led by [[Wadie Haddad]]).<ref name="F24 KO SA" /><ref name="Ynet KO SA" /><ref name="Wadie JC" />

Pape found other factors associated with suicide attacks. This included the government of the targeted country being democratic and the public opinion of the country playing a role in determining policy. He also found that a difference in religion between the attackers and occupiers, and<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Vuong|first1=Quan-Hoang|title=A Mindsponge-Based Investigation into the Psycho-Religious Mechanism Behind Suicide Attacks|last2=Nguyen|first2=Minh-Hoang|last3=Le|first3=Tam-Tri|date=2021|publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH|isbn=978-83-66675-58-2|language=en}}</ref> grassroots support for the attacks<ref>Pape, ''Dying to Win'', p. 92.</ref> contributed. Other factors include attackers being disproportionately from the educated middle classes,{{sfn|Atran|2006|p=130}} high levels of brutality and cruelty by the occupiers,<ref>Pape, ''Dying to Win'', p. 60.</ref> and competition among militant groups fighting the occupiers.<ref>Pape, ''Dying to Win'', pp. 200–16.</ref>

Other researchers, such as Yotam Feldner, argue that perceived religious rewards after death are instrumental in encouraging Muslims to commit suicide attacks.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=ia&ID=IA2500|title=Contemporary Islamist Ideology Authorizing Genocidal Murder|publisher=MEMRI|date=January 27, 2004|access-date=May 19, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Yotam Feldner|url=http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=ia&ID=IA7401|title='72 Black Eyed Virgins': A Muslim Debate on the Rewards of Martyrs|publisher=MEMRI|access-date=May 19, 2010}}</ref> These researchers contend that Pape's analysis is flawed, particularly his contention that democracies are the main targets of such attacks.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Jackson Wade | first1 = Sara | author-link2 = Dan Reiter | last2 = Reiter | first2 = Dan | year = 2007 | title = Does Democracy Matter? Regime Type and Suicide Terrorism | doi = 10.1177/0022002706298137 | journal = Journal of Conflict Resolution | volume = 51 | issue = 2 | pages = 329–348 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.519.1840 | s2cid = 11699344}}</ref> Other scholars have criticized Pape's research design, arguing that it cannot draw any conclusions on the causes of suicide terrorism.<ref name="Ashworth 2008" />

Atran argues that suicide bombing has moved on from the days of Pape's study,{{sfn|Atran|2006|p=130}} where non-Islamic groups have carried out very few bombings since 2003. Instead, bombing by Muslim or Islamist groups associated with a "global ideology" of "martyrdom" has skyrocketed. In 2004 in Iraq alone, there were 400 suicide attacks and 2,000 casualties.{{sfn|Atran|2006|p=131-133}} Other researchers question why prominent anti-occupation secular terrorist groups have not used suicide, such as the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|Provisional IRA]], [[ETA (separatist group)|ETA]], or [[Anti-imperialism|anti-colonialist]] insurgents in Vietnam, Algeria, and elsewhere.<ref name="bootSbB" /><ref name="FPRI-horowitz" /> They also question Pape omits that the first suicide attack in Lebanon targeted the embassy of Iraq, a country that was not occupying Lebanon.<ref name="bootSbB" />

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

According to [[Scott Atran |Atran]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Atran|first=Scott|title=Terrorism and Radicalization: What Not to Do, What to Do|url=http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/Atran07/|publisher=Edge.org|access-date=2012-08-19|date=November 2007}}</ref> and former CIA case officer [[Marc Sageman]],<ref>{{Cite book|author=Sageman, Marc|title=Leaderless Jihad|location=Philadelphia|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-8122-4065-8}} {{Page needed|date=December 2011}}</ref> support for suicide actions is triggered by moral outrage at perceived attacks against Islam and sacred values. However, this is converted to action as a result of small-world factors, such as being part of a football club with other {{lang|ar-Latn|jihadis}}. Millions express sympathy with global {{lang|ar-Latn|jihad}}. According to a 2006 Gallup study involving more than 50,000 interviews in dozens of countries, seven percent of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims consider the 9/11 attacks "completely justified".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Rahman|first1=Jamal|title=In Review [of book]: Who Speaks for Islam?|journal=Yes! Magazine|date=Oct 31, 2008|url=http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/sustainable-happiness/in-review-who-speaks-for-islam|access-date=9 October 2015|archive-date=24 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124204240/http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/sustainable-happiness/in-review-who-speaks-for-islam}}</ref><ref>An estimated 7–14% of Muslims worldwide (depending on the poll taken) supported the Al Qaeda strike against the United States.{{cite journal|title=Looking for the roots of terrorism [Interview with Scott Atran]|journal=Nature|first=Sara |last=Reardon |date=15 January 2015 |doi=10.1038/nature.2015.16732|s2cid=155646601|url=http://www.nature.com/news/looking-for-the-roots-of-terrorism-1.16732|access-date=5 October 2015|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

[[File:Afghanistan suicide bomb attacks incl non-detonated 2002-2008 UNAMA red.png|right|thumb|Afghanistan suicide bomb attacks, including non-detonated, 2002–2008]]

[[Assaf Moghadam]] is also arguing that the increase in suicide terrorism since 2001 is driven by {{lang|ar-Latn|[[Salafi jihadism|Salafi jihadist]]|italics=no}} ideology and Al-Qaeda.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Moghadam|first1=Assaf| author-link =Assaf Moghadam |title=The Globalization of Martyrdom: Al Qaeda, Salafi Jihad, and the Diffusion of ...|date=2008|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|pages=2–3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RMeqBfA9-RUC|access-date=22 October 2015|isbn=978-1-4214-0144-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Moghadam|first1=Assaf| author-link =Assaf Moghadam |title=Suicide Terrorism, Occupation, and the Globalization of Martyrdom: A Critique of Dying to Win|journal=Studies in Conflict & Terrorism |date=2006|volume=29|issue=8|pages=707–729 |doi=10.1080/10576100600561907 |s2cid=143286352|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Updating his work in a 2010 book ''Cutting the Fuse'', Pape reported that a close analysis of the time and location of attacks strongly support his conclusion that "foreign military occupation accounts for 98.5%—and the deployment of American combat forces for 92%—of all the 1,833 suicide terrorist attacks around the world" between 2004 and 2009.{{sfn|Pape|Feldman|2010|p=28}} Pape wrote that, "the success attributed to the surge in 2007 and 2008 was actually less the result of an increase in coalition forces and more to a change of strategy in Baghdad and the empowerment of the Sunnis in Anbar".{{sfn|Pape|Feldman|2010|p=33}}

The same logic can be seen in Afghanistan. In 2004 and early 2005, NATO occupied the north and west, which was controlled by the Northern Alliance, whom NATO had previously helped fight the Taliban. An enormous spike in suicide terrorism only occurred later in 2005 as NATO moved into the south and east, which had previously been controlled by the Taliban, and locals were more likely to see NATO as a foreign occupation threatening local culture and customs.{{sfn|Pape|Feldman|2010|p=36}} Critics argue the logic cannot be seen in Pakistan,<ref name="bootSbB" >{{ author | Max Boot | url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111021093830/http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/suicide-bomb_577292.html | title = Suicide by Bomb | newspaper = ''The Weekly Standard'' | date = 1 Aug 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Abrahms|first1=Max|title=[Review of] Cutting the Fuse The Explosion of Global Suicide Terrorism and How to Stop It|journal=Middle East Quarterly|date=Spring 2012|volume=19|issue=2|url=http://www.meforum.org/3237/cutting-the-fuse|access-date=22 October 2015}}</ref> which has no occupation and the second highest number of suicide bombing fatalities as of mid-2015.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

=== Islam ===
{{Jihadism sidebar}}
{{main|Islamic terrorism|Istishhad|Inghimasi|Suicide legislation #Asia}}

What connection the high percentage of suicide attacks executed by Islamist groups since 1980 has to do with the religion of Islam is disputed. Specifically, scholars, researchers, and others disagree over whether Islam forbids suicide in the process of attacking enemies, or the killing of civilians. According to a report compiled by the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism, 224 of 300 suicide terror attacks from 1980 to 2003 involved Islamist groups or took place in Muslim-majority countries.<ref> Pape, ''Dying to Win'', computed from Table 1, p. 15 </ref>{{Original research inline| date = June 2025}} Another tabulation found more than a fourfold increase in suicide bombings in the two years following Pape's study and that the overwhelming majority of these bombers were motivated by the ideology of Islamist martyrdom.{{sfn|Atran|2006|p=131-133}} For example, as of early 2008, 1,121 Muslim suicide bombers have blown themselves up in [[Iraq]].{{sfn|Fisk|2008}}

==== Recent emergence of suicide attacks by Muslims ====

[[Sunni Muslims]] were possibly the last major branch of the [[Abrahamic religions]] to resort to overt suicide attacks.
Islamic suicide bombing is a fairly recent phenomenon. It was absent from the 1979{{endash}}1989 [[Soviet–Afghan War|Afghan jihad]] against the Soviet Union,<ref name="FeldmanITNA" /> an asymmetrical war where the {{lang|ar-Latn|mujahideen}} fought [[Soviet Air Forces |Soviet warplanes]], helicopters and tanks primarily with light weapons. According to author [[Sadakat Kadri]], "the very idea that Muslims might blow themselves up for God was unheard of before 1983, and it was not until the early 1990s that anyone anywhere had tried to justify killing innocent Muslims who were not on a battlefield". After 1983, the process was limited among Muslims to [[Hezbollah]] and other [[Lebanese Shia Muslims |Lebanese Shia]] factions for more than a decade.<ref name="Kadri" />

Since then, according to [[Noah Feldman]], videotaped pre-confession of faith by attackers known as the "vocabulary of martyrdom and sacrifice" have become part of "Islamic cultural consciousness" and these confessions are "instantly recognizable" to Muslims.<ref name="FeldmanITNA" /> The tactic has spread through the Muslim world "with astonishing speed and on a surprising course".<ref name="FeldmanITNA" />
"First the targets were American soldiers, then mostly Israelis, including women and children. From [[Lebanon]] and Israel, the technique of suicide bombing moved to Iraq, where the targets have included mosques and shrines, and the intended victims have mostly been [[Shia]] [[Iraqi people|Iraqis]]. ... [In] [[Afghanistan]], ... both the perpetrators and the targets are orthodox [[Sunni]] Muslims. Not long ago, a bombing in Lashkar Gah, the capital of [[Helmand Province]], killed Muslims, including women, who were applying to go on [[Hajj|pilgrimage]] to [[Mecca]]. Overall, the trend is definitively in the direction of Muslim-on-Muslim violence. By a conservative accounting, more than three times as many Iraqis have been killed by suicide bombings in just three years (2003–6) as have Israelis in ten (from 1996–2006). Suicide bombing has become the archetype of Muslim violence;– not just to Westerners but also to Muslims themselves".<ref name="FeldmanITNA" />

Recent research on the rationale of suicide bombing has identified both religious and sociopolitical motivations.<ref name="autogenerated2002" > Olivetti, Vincetto (2002), ''Terror's Source''; {{ISBN|978-0-9543729-0-3}} {{Page needed|date=December 2011}}</ref><ref>Esposito, John (2003) ''Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam''; {{ISBN|978-0-19-516886-0}}{{Page needed|date=December 2011}}</ref><ref>Ayubi, Nazih (1991)''Political Islam''; {{ISBN|978-0-415-10385-5}} {{Page needed|date=December 2011}}</ref><ref>Mohammed Hafez, 2003 {{Page needed|date=December 2011}}</ref> Those who cite religious factors as an important influence note that religion provides the framework because the bombers believe they are acting in the name of Islam and will be rewarded as martyrs. Since martyrdom is seen as a step towards paradise, those who commit suicide while discarding their community from a common enemy believe that they will reach an ultimate salvation after they die.<ref name="autogenerated2002" />

In the media attention given to suicide bombing during the [[Second Intifada]] and after 9/11, sources hostile to radical Islamism quoted radical scholars promising various heavenly rewards, such as 70 virgins ({{langx|ar-Latn|[[houri]]}}) as wives, to Muslims who die as martyrs, specifically as suicide attackers.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Ibn Warraq|title=Virgins? What virgins?|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/jan/12/books.guardianreview5|access-date=8 October 2015|work=The Guardian|quote=In August, 2001, the American television channel CBS aired an interview with a Hamas activist Muhammad Abu Wardeh, who recruited terrorists for suicide bombings in Israel. Abu Wardeh was quoted as saying: 'I described to him how God would compensate the martyr for sacrificing his life for his land. If you become a martyr, God will give you 70 virgins, 70 wives and everlasting happiness.' |date=11 January 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Farmer |first1=Brian R. |title=Understanding Radical Islam: Medieval Ideology in the Twenty-first Century |date=2007 |publisher=Peter Lang. |location=NY |isbn=978-0-8204-8843-1 |pages=55–56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bIQ0hhu8l7IC&q=Muhammad+Abu+Wardeh+virgins&pg=PA55 |access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref> Other alleged rewards for those dying are being cleansed of all sin and brought directly to paradise, and not having to wait for the [[Last Judgment#Islam|Day of Judgement]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Peters|first1=Rudolph|editor1-last=Coolsaet|editor1-first=Rik|title=Jihadi Terrorism and the Radicalisation Challenge: European and American ...|date=2011|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|page=147|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GOKhAgAAQBAJ&q=jihad+go+directly+to+paradise&pg=PA147|access-date=15 October 2015|chapter=11. Dutch Extremist Islamism: Van Gogh's Murderer and his Ideas|isbn=978-1-4094-7645-0|quote=According to widespread Islamic belief, warriors killed in jihad are rendered free of sin and go directly to Paradise, ...}}</ref><ref>One scholar of history (Leor Halevi) suggests that suicide killers may be motivated by the idea that by dying while waging jihad they are transported directly to paradise, thus bypassing "the tortures of the grave" ("a state akin to the late Christian concept of [[purgatory]]"). {{cite journal|last1=Bamyeh|first1=Mohammad|title=Reviewed Work: Muhammad's Grave: Death Rites and the Making of Islamic Society by Leor Halevi|journal=Review of Middle East Studies |date=2009 |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=91–93 |jstor=41888571 |doi=10.1017/S2151348100000264 |s2cid=165022804}}</ref>

Others, such as [[As'ad AbuKhalil]], maintain that "the tendency to dwell on the sexual motives" of the suicide bombers "belittles" the bombers "sociopolitical causes", and that the alleged "sexual frustration" of young Muslim men "has been overly emphasized in the Western and Israeli media" as a motive for terrorism.<ref name="klare-7-11-2001" />

==== Support for "martyrdom operations" ====
{{further| Martyrdom #Islam | Suicide legislation | Islamic view of death #Suicide }}

Islamist militant organizations including [[al-Qaeda]], [[Hamas]], and [[Palestinian Islamic Jihad]] argue that, despite what some Muslims claim is Islam's strict prohibition of suicide and murder,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://abdulhaqq.jeeran.com/ruling.html |title=The Islamic Ruling on the Permissibility of Martyrdom Operations |access-date=2004-10-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041011230417/http://abdulhaqq.jeeran.com/ruling.html |archive-date=October 11, 2004}}. abdulhaqq.jeeran.com.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://abdulhaqq.jeeran.com/fatwa_sheikh_qaradhawi.html |title=Fatwa of Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi |access-date=2004-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041009222904/http://abdulhaqq.jeeran.com/fatwa_sheikh_qaradhawi.html |archive-date=October 9, 2004}}. abdulhaqq.jeeran.com.</ref>
suicide attacks fulfill the obligation of {{lang|ar-Latn|[[jihad]]}} against the "oppressor", "martyrs" will be rewarded with paradise, and have the support of some Muslim clerics.{{who| date = June 2025}}{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}
Clerics have supported suicide attacks largely in connection with the Palestinian issue. Prominent Sunni cleric [[Yusuf al-Qaradawi]] had previously supported such attacks by Palestinians in perceived defense of their homeland as heroic and an act of resistance.<ref>{{cite book|author=David Bukay|title=From Muhammad to Bin Laden: Religious and Ideological Sources of the Homicide Bombers Phenomenon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VNtBgbrNGUQC&pg=PA295|access-date=August 19, 2012|year=2008|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=978-0-7658-0390-0|pages=295–}}</ref> [[Lebanese Shia Muslims |Shia Lebanese]] cleric [[Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah]], the spiritual authority recognized by Hezbollah, holds similar views.<ref name="FeldmanITNA" />

The articles maintains that [[Abu Huraira]], a companion of the Muhammad, and [[Umar ibn Khattab]], the second caliph of Islam, approved acts which Muslims knew would lead to certain death. The Islamic prophet Muhammad also approved of such acts, according to authors Maulana Muawiya Hussaini and Ikrimah Anwar who cited numerous [[Hadith]] of Muhammad on the authority of Islamic jurist [[Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj]]. "The Sahaba [companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad] who carried out the attacks almost certainly knew that they were going to be killed during their operations but they still carried them out and such acts were extolled and praised in the sharia."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hussaini|first1=Maulana Muawiya|last2=Anwar|first2=Ikrimah|title=Let's Understand 'Suicide Bombing'|url=http://shahamat-english.com/english/index.php/articles/32625-let-s-understand-suicide-bombing|website=Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Voices of Jihad|access-date=14 October 2015|archive-date=17 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117021403/http://shahamat-english.com/english/index.php/articles/32625-let-s-understand-suicide-bombing}}</ref>

==== Opposition and responses from Muslim scholars ====

Others, such as Middle East historian [[Bernard Lewis]], disagree:
"… a clear difference was made between throwing oneself to certain death at the hands of an overwhelmingly strong enemy, and dying by one's own hand. The first, if conducted in a properly authorized [ [[jihad]] ], was a passport to heaven; the second to damnation. The blurring of their previously vital distinction was the work of some twentieth-century theologians who outlined the new theory which the suicide bombers put into practice".<ref name="ARSI-BL-xii">{{cite book|last1=Lewis|first1=Bernard|title=The Assassins, a radical sect in Islam|orig-date=1967|year=2003|publisher=Basic Books.|pages=xi–xii|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sRVmL_h_PcsC&q=islamic+hashishin+suicide|access-date=13 October 2015|isbn=978-0-7867-2455-0}}</ref>

The distinction from engaging in an act where the perpetrator plans to fight to the death but where the attack does not require their death is important to at least one Islamist terror group, [[Lashkar-e-Taiba]] (LeT).{{where| date = June 2025}} While the group extols "martyrdom" and has killed many civilians, LeT believes suicide attacks where the attackers die by their own hand, such as by pressing a detonation button, are {{lang|ar-Latn|[[haram]]}} (forbidden). Its "trademark" is that of perpetrators fighting "to the death" but escaping "if practical". "This distinction has been the subject of extensive discourse among radical Islamist leaders".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Subrahmanian|first1=V.S.|last2=Sliva|first2=Amy|last3=Shakarian|first3=Jana|last4=Dickerson|first4=John P.|last5=Mannes|first5=Aaron|title=Computational Analysis of Terrorist Groups: Lashkar-e-Taiba|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media.|page=91|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ej1RD5dNykYC&q=Lashkar-e-Taiba,+fight+to+the+death&pg=PA91|access-date=6 October 2015|isbn=978-1-4614-4769-6|date=2012-08-28}}</ref>

Several Western and Muslim scholars of Islam have posited that suicide attacks are a clear violation of classical Islamic law, and characterized such attacks against civilians as murderous and sinful.<ref name="CNN">[http://articles.cnn.com/2010-03-03/world/fatwa.against.terror_1_fatwa-ul-muslim-scholar?_s=PM:WORLD Muslim scholar's fatwa condemns terrorism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919222159/http://articles.cnn.com/2010-03-03/world/fatwa.against.terror_1_fatwa-ul-muslim-scholar?_s=PM:WORLD |date=2010-09-19}}, Articles.cnn.com; retrieved August 19, 2012.</ref><ref name="Lewis 2008, p53">Lewis, Bernard & Buntzie Ellis Churchill. "Islam: The Religion and the People" (p. 53), Wharton School Publishing, 2008.<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref>

According to [[Bernard Lewis]], "the emergence of the now widespread terrorism practice of suicide bombing is a development of the 20th century. It has no antecedents in Islamic history, and no justification in terms of Islamic theology, law, or tradition."<ref name="Lewis 2008, p53" /> Islamic legal [[Rules of war in Islam|rules of armed warfare]] or military {{lang|ar-Latn|jihad}} are covered in detail in the classical texts of Islamic jurisprudence,<ref name="FeldmanITNA">{{cite news|author=Noah Feldman|title=Islam, Terror, and the Second Nuclear Age|newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/magazine/29islam.html?pagewanted=all|date=October 29, 2006}}</ref> which forbid the killing of women, children, or non-combatants, and the destruction of cultivated or residential areas.<ref name="FeldmanITNA" /><ref name="LewisChurchill">Bernard Lewis and Buntzie Ellis Churchill, ''Islam: The Religion and the People'', Wharton School Publishing, 2008, pp. 145–53.<!-- ISBN needed --></ref><ref>Muhammad Hamidullah, ''The Muslim Conduct of State'' (Ashraf Printing Press (1987); {{ISBN|1-56744-340-0}}, pp. 205–08</ref>

For more than a millennium, these tenets were accepted by Sunnis and Shiites. However, since the 1980s militant Islamists have challenged the traditional Islamic rules of warfare to justify suicide attacks.<ref name="FeldmanITNA" /><ref name="LewisChurchill" />

Several respected Muslim scholars have provided scholastic refutations of suicide bombings, condemning them as terrorism prohibited in Islam and leading their perpetrators to hell.<ref name="CNN" /> In his over 400 page long ''[[Fatwa on Terrorism]]'' condemning suicide attacks, Muslim Islamic scholar Muhammad [[Tahir-ul-Qadri]] directly disputed the rationale of Islamists. He argues that indiscriminately killing both Muslims and non-Muslims is unlawful, and brings the Muslim {{lang|ar-Latn|[[ummah]]}} into disrepute, no matter how lofty the killers intentions.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Argon|first1=Kemal|title=Who's Really Behind Tahir ul-Qadri's 500-Page Fatwa Against Terrorism and Suicide Bombings?|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kemal-argon/whos-really-behind-tahir-_b_1266232.html|access-date=14 October 2015|agency=Huffington Post Religion|date=14 February 2012}}</ref> Tahir-ul-Qadri states terrorism "has no place in Islamic teaching, and no justification can be provided to it [...] good intention cannot justify a wrong and forbidden act".<ref name="CNN" />

Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia [[Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al Shaykh]] issued a {{lang|ar-Latn|[[fatwa]]}} on 12 September 2013 that suicide bombings are "great crimes" and bombers are "criminals who rush themselves to hell by their actions". Al Shaykh described suicide bombers as "robbed of their minds [...] who have been used [as tools] to destroy themselves and societies".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.alalam.ir/news/1543997|title=Saudi grand mufti says suicide bombers will go to hell|access-date=November 7, 2014}}</ref>
"In view of the fast-moving dangerous developments in the Islamic world, it is very distressing to see the tendencies of permitting or underestimating the shedding of blood of Muslims and those under protection in their countries. The sectarian or ignorant utterances made by some of these people would benefit none other than the greedy, vindictive and envious people. Hence, we would like to draw attention to the seriousness of the attacks on Muslims or those who live under their protection or under a pact with them|Al Shaykh, quoting a number of verses from the Qur'an and Hadith".<ref>[http://www.saudiembassy.net/latest_news/news09171302.aspx Saudi Grand Mufti condemns attacks on Non-Muslims] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101221425/http://www.saudiembassy.net/latest_news/news09171302.aspx |date=2014-01-01}}, saudiembassy.net; accessed March 22, 2015.</ref>

In 2005, following a [[2005 Bangladesh bombings|series of bombings]] by the banned outfit [[Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh]] (JMB), chief cleric of [[Bangladesh]] [[Ubaidul Haq]] led a protest of {{lang|ar-Latn|[[ulema]]}} denouncing [[terrorism]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Protest against Bangladesh bombs|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4512406.stm |publisher=BBC|access-date=27 January 2016|ref=9 December 2005}}</ref> He said:
"[[Islam]] prohibits [[suicide bombings]]. These bombers are enemies of Islam. [...] It is a duty for all [[Muslims]] to stand up against those who are killing people in the name of [[Islam]]".{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}

In January 2006, {{lang|ar-Latn|[[Shi'a Islam|Shia]] [[Marja'|Marja]]|italics=no}} (high ranking cleric) [[Yousef Sanei|Ayatollah al-Udhma Yousof al-Sanei]] decreed a {{lang|ar-Latn|[[fatwa]]}} against suicide bombing, declaring it a "terrorist act".<ref>{{cite web| last1 = Feldman | first1 = Noah Feldman | author1-link = Noah Feldman | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/magazine/29islam.html?pagewanted=all | title = "Islam, Terror and the Second Nuclear Age" | newspaper = [[New York Times]] | date = 29 October 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Khan|first1=Muqtedar|title=A fatwa against terrorism that might work|url=http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=27467&lan=en&sp=0|access-date=14 October 2015|agency=Common Ground News Service|date=16 March 2010}}</ref> In 2005, Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti also issued a {{lang|ar-Latn|fatwa}} "Against The Targeting Of Civilians".<ref>[http://www.livingislam.org/maa/dcmm_e.html Defending the Transgressed] Fatwa against suicide bombing by Shaykh Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti; accessed 22 March 2015.</ref>

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''.<ref>[http://www.ihsanic-intelligence.com/dox/The_Hijacked_Caravan.pdf ''The Hijacked Caravan''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050906062050/http://www.ihsanic-intelligence.com/dox/The_Hijacked_Caravan.pdf |date=2005-09-06}}, ihsanic-intelligence.com; retrieved August 19, 2012.</ref> The study 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".<ref>[http://mac.abc.se/home/onesr/ez/isl/0-sbm/The.Hijacked.Caravan.html ''The Hijacked Caravan: Refuting Suicide Bombings as Martyrdom Operations in Contemporary Jihad Strategy''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051023075058/http://mac.abc.se/home/onesr/ez/isl/0-sbm/The.Hijacked.Caravan.html |date=October 23, 2005}}, Mac.abc.se; retrieved August 19, 2012.</ref>

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

According to theologian [[When Religion Becomes Evil|Charles Kimball]], "There is only one verse in the Qur'an that contains a phrase related to suicide" (4:29):<ref>{{cite news|last1=Burek|first1=Josh|title=Q&A: Islamic fundamentalism|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1004/p25s1-wosc.html|access-date=15 October 2015|agency=csmonitor.com|date=October 4, 2001}}</ref> "O you who have believed, do not consume one another's wealth unjustly but only [in lawful] business by mutual consent. And do not kill yourselves. Indeed, Allah is to you ever Merciful."<ref>{{cite quran|4|29|s=ns}}</ref>

Some commentators posit that "do not kill yourselves" is better translated "do not kill each other", and some translations, such as those by M. H. Shakir, reflect that view. Mainstream Islamic groups such as the [[European Council for Fatwa and Research]] also cite the Quranic verse [[Al-An'am]] 6:151<ref>{{cite quran|6|151|s=ns}}</ref>)] as prohibiting suicide: "And take not life, which Allah has made sacred, except by way of justice and law".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?cid=1119503549272&pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaE%2FFatwaEAskTheScholar |title=Euthanasia: Types and Rulings |access-date=2009-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090630072120/http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?cid=1119503549272&pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaE%2FFatwaEAskTheScholar |archive-date=June 30, 2009}}</ref> The {{lang|ar-Latn|[[Hadith]]}}, including Bukhari 2:445, states: "The Prophet said, '...whoever commits suicide with a piece of iron will be punished with the same piece of iron in the Hell Fire', [and] 'A man was inflicted with wounds and he committed suicide, and so Allah said: 'My slave has caused death on himself hurriedly, so I forbid Paradise for him.'"<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/bukhari/bh2/bh2_446.htm Hadith 2:445], sacred-texts.com; retrieved August 19, 2012.</ref><ref>Adil Salahi [http://www.aljazeerah.info/Islam/Islamic%20subjects/2004%20subjects/June/Committing%20Suicide%20Is%20Strictly%20Forbidden%20in%20Islam,%20Adil%20Salahi.htm Committing Suicide Is Strictly Forbidden in Islam], Aljazeerah.info, June 22, 2004; retrieved August 19, 2012.</ref>

Other Muslims have also noted Quranic verses in opposition to suicide, to taking of life other than by way of justice such as the death penalty for murder, and to collective punishment.<ref>[http://islam.about.com/cs/currentevents/a/suicide_bomb.htm Suicide Bombers&nbsp;– Why do they do it, and what does Islam say about their actions?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040731083315/http://islam.about.com/cs/currentevents/a/suicide_bomb.htm |date=2004-07-31}}; accessed 22 March 2015</ref>{{better source needed| reason = about.com |date=May 2025}}

The international community considers the use of [[indiscriminate attack]]s on civilian populations<ref name="rwkckb07" /><ref>{{cite news|last1=Erlanger|first1=Steven and Fares Akram|title=Israel Warns Gaza Targets by Phone and Leaflet|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/09/world/middleeast/by-phone-and-leaflet-israeli-attackers-warn-gazans.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimesworld&_r=1|website=[[The New York Times]]|date=8 July 2014 |access-date=July 10, 2014}}</ref> as [[Geneva conventions#Protocols|illegal under international law]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Protection of the civilian population|url=http://www.icrc.org/ihl/WebART/470-750065|website=Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), June 8, 1977|publisher=International Committee of the Red Cross|access-date=July 10, 2014}}</ref>

==== Public surveys ====
{| class="wikitable floatright" style="text-align:right; max-width:35em" align=center
|+ Muslim views on suicide bombings, 2002 to 2014
|-
! {{diagonal split header|Location|Year}}
! {{vertical header|2002}}
! {{vertical header|2004}}
! {{vertical header|2005}}
! {{vertical header|2006}}
! {{vertical header|2007}}
! {{vertical header|2008}}
! {{vertical header|2009}}
! {{vertical header|2010}}
! {{vertical header|2011}}
! {{vertical header|2013}}
! {{vertical header|2014}}
|-
! ||colspan=11 style="text-align:center;"|Answer: "often" or "sometimes" justified (%)
|-
! Palestinian<br/> Territory
| –
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|70|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| {{Cell color|68|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| {{Cell color|68|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|62|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|46|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Lebanon
| {{Cell color|74|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| {{Cell color|39|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| {{Cell color|34|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|32|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|38|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|39|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|35|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|33|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|29|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Egypt
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|28|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|8|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|13|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|15|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|20|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|28|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|25|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|24|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Turkey
| {{Cell color|13|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|15|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|14|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|17|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|16|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|3|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|4|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|6|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|7|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|16|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|18|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Jordan
| {{Cell color|43|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| {{Cell color|57|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|29|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|23|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|25|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|12|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|20|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|13|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|12|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|15|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Tunisia
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|12|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|5|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Bangladesh
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|47|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Malaysia
| –
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|26|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|27|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|18|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Indonesia
| {{Cell color|26|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| {{Cell color|15|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|10|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|10|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|11|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|13|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|15|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|10|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|6|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|9|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Pakistan
| {{Cell color|33|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|41|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|25|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|14|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|9|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|5|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|5|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|8|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|5|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|3|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|3|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Tanzania
| {{Cell color|18|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|11|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|12|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|26|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Nigeria
| {{Cell color|47|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|46|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|42|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|32|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|43|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|34|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| {{Cell color|8|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|19|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Senegal
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|18|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|15|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
! Israel
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| {{Cell color|7|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| –
| {{Cell color|20|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|7|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
| {{Cell color|16|100|0|000022|EEEEFF}}
|-
| colspan=12 style="text-align:left;" | Results of [[Pew Research Center]] survey asking Muslims{{who|date=April 2025}} the question: <br/>"Suicide bombings can be ___ justified against civilian targets in order to defend Islam from its enemies?" <br/> Percentage of respondents{{where |date=April 2025}} choosing "often" or "sometimes" rather than "rarely" or "never".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2009/09/10/rejection-of-extremism/|title=Declining Support for bin Laden and Suicide Bombing|date=10 September 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2014/07/01/concerns-about-islamic-extremism-on-the-rise-in-middle-east/|title = Concerns about Islamic Extremism on the Rise in Middle East|date = July 2014}}</ref>
|-
|}

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

{{clear}}
== See also ==
<!-- Please respect alphabetical order -->
{{div col}}
* {{Annotated link |7 July 2005 London bombings}}
* {{Annotated link |2010 Austin plane crash}}
* {{Slink |Islamophobic trope #72 Virgins}}
* {{Annotated link |Austin serial bombings|2018 Austin bombings}}
* {{Annotated link |Child suicide bombers in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict}}
* {{Annotated link |Explosive belt}}
* {{Annotated link |Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg}}
* {{Annotated link |Heather Penney}}
* {{Annotated link |Japanese Special Attack Units}}
* {{Annotated link |Kamikaze}}
* {{Annotated link |Martyr}}
* {{Annotated link |Martyrdom video}}
* {{Annotated link |Martyrdom in Islam}}
* {{Annotated link |Martyrdom in Palestinian society}}
* {{Annotated link |Murder-suicide}}
* {{Annotated link |Olei Hagardom}}
* {{Annotated link |Palestinian suicide attacks}}
* {{Annotated link |Pierre Rehov}}
{{end div col}}

== Explanatory notes ==
{{notelist| group = lower-alpha | refs =
{{efn|name=Benazir| Named in honour of the martyr (shaheed) [[Benazir Bhutto]], after she was [[assassination of Benazir Bhutto |assassinated by a suicide bomber]] in 2007:
* [[Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University]]
* [[Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Medical College]]
* [[Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University]]
* [[Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Medical College]]
* [[Shaheed Benazir Bhutto City University]] in [[Karachi]], [[Sindh]]
* [[Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Dewan University]] in [[Karachi]], [[Sindh]]
* [[Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University (Shaheed Benazirabad)]] in [[Nawabshah]], [[Sindh]]
* [[Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences]] in Sakrand, [[Sindh]]
* [[Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University (Karachi)]] in [[Karachi]], [[Sindh]]
* [[Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University (Sheringal)]] in Dir, [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]].
* [[Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University]] (previously known as the Frontier Women University, in [[Peshawar]], Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) }}
{{efn|name=ABC| The [[Hebrew acronym]] {{lang|he|אב״כ}} [[Aleph]] [[Bet (letter) |Bet]]ַ [[Kaph]] can also be written {{lang|he|אב״ך}} with the terminal form of the latter [[Kaph]], and the [[Gershayim]] is usually substituted for a double apostrophe or double quote mark.}}
}}

== References ==

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist |30em |refs=

<ref name="wotr" >{{cite web| url = https://warontherocks.com/2021/07/july-22-a-pivotal-day-in-terrorism-history/ | title = July 22: A Pivotal Day in Terrorism History | date=22 July 2021 }}</ref>

<ref name="ynet 20 April 07" >{{cite web | url=https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3390269,00.html#google_vignette | title=60 שנה אחרי: התנ"ך של פיינשטיין שב הביתה | date=20 April 2007 }}</ref>

<ref name="Srugim Father" >{{harvnb|Klein|2022}}: {{langx|he|אביו של ברזני פגש את אליעזר בן עמי נשק לו ואמר "הצלת את כבוד עם ישראל".||Barzani's father met Eliezer Ben Ami, kissed him, and said, "You saved the honor of the people of Israel".}}</ref>

<ref name="Srugim Philistines" >{{harvnb|Klein|2022}}: {{langx|he|תמות נפשי עם פלשתים — ברזני ופינשטיין עירקי ואשכנזי ישבו ביחד בתא הנידונים למוות וחיכו בשלווה ליום מותם. איש לח"י  אליעזר בן עמי העלה את רעיון שמשון תמות נפשי עם בריטים. והכין לשניים תפוז נפץ כדי שביום התלייה גם התליינים יתפוצצו.||My soul will die with the Philistines — Barzani and Feinstein, Iraqi and Ashkenazi, sat together in the death row cell and calmly awaited the day of their death. A Lehi member, {{ill|Eliezer Ben Ami|he|אליעזר בן עמי}}, came up with the idea of Samson dying with the British. And he prepared an explosive orange for the two of them so that on the day of the hanging, the executioners would also explode. }}</ref>

<ref name="Mercury 1947" >{{cite news | date = 23 April 1947 | title = SUICIDE OF TWO CONDEMNED JEW TERRORISTS | url = https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/170969142 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20241229075328/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/170969142 | archive-date = 2024-12-29 | newspaper = [[Daily Mercury]] | publisher = trove.nla.gov.au | quote = the two Jewish condemned terrorists, {{ill|Meyer Feinstein|he|מאיר פיינשטיין}} and [[Moshe Barazani]], who were to have been executed before dawn to-day, committed suicide in Jerusalem central prison to-night by blowing themselves to pieces … The [[British United Press]] representative states that Feinstein and Barazani are reported to have in scribed the Biblical words, "[[Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin |Mene, Mene, Tekel Uphaisin]]" on the walls of their cells before killing themselves. The words quoted are mentioned In the Book of [[Daniel 5 |Daniel, chapter 5]], verse 25. }}</ref>

<ref name="hangman defeated" >{{cite news| title = HANGMAN DEFEATED BY CONDEMNED MEN IN PALESTINE | newspaper = Grey River Argus | date = 23 April 1947 | page = 5 | publisher = paperspast.natlib.govt.nz  | url = https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GRA19470423.2.35 | archiveurl = https://archive.today/20250509085453/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GRA19470423.2.35 | archivedate = 2025-05-09 | quote = The Jewish terrorists Feinstein and Barazini were to have been executed at dawn to-day. However, they blew themselves to pieces shortly before midnight. The two men occupied the same cell. They were visited by {{ill|Rabbi Jacob Goldman|he|יעקב גולדמן (רב בתי הסוהר)}}, Jewish chaplain to prisons, and he administered to them the last rites. Tile men committed suicide shortly after he left. Rabbi Goldman was immediately taken to [[Palestine Police Force |the police headquarters]]. Feinstein and Barazini are reported to have inscribed the Biblical words, “Mene! Mene! Tekel Upharsin!” on the walls of their ceil before killing themselves with hand grenades. The words quoted are those mentioned in the [[Book of Daniel]], [[Daniel 5 |chapter five]], verse twenty-five. }}</ref>

<ref name="bos carole">{{cite web| url = https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/Kamikaze-Attacks-Pacific-Theater-WWII | title = Kamikaze Attacks – Pacific Theater, WWII | last=Bos | first=Carole | publisher = AwesomeStories.com | access-date = 22 March 2016 | archive-date = 4 April 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160404210653/https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/Kamikaze-Attacks-Pacific-Theater-WWII }}</ref>

<ref name="kamikazeimages.net">{{cite web| url = http://www.kamikazeimages.net/books/japanese/yuki/index.htm | title = Yuki wa juunanasai tokkou de shinda (Yuki died at 17 in a kamikaze attack) | publisher = Kamikaze Images | access-date = 22 March 2016 | archive-date = 25 December 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181225172659/http://www.kamikazeimages.net/books/japanese/yuki/index.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="Gordon" >{{cite web|url=http://www.kamikazeimages.net/writings/araki/index.htm | title = Last Letters of Corporal Yukio Araki | last = Gordon | first = Bill | date = May 2005 | publisher = Kamikaze Images | access-date = 23 March 2016 | archive-date = 16 December 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181216011446/http://www.kamikazeimages.net/writings/araki/index.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="IWM transcript" >{{cite web | title = How effective was the Japanese kamikaze campaign? | url = https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-effective-was-the-japanese-kamikaze-campaign | website = [[Imperial War Museum]]s | access-date = 7 December 2024 |language=en| format = video transcript | quote = The Japanese expended 2600 aircraft in kamikaze attacks, and with them the lives of 4000 airmen. The attacks killed more than 7000 Allied naval personnel. }}</ref>

<ref name="IWM kamikaze failed" >{{cite web | title = Why the kamikaze campaign failed | url = https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UvroLTbhJ50 | website = www.youtube.com/@ImperialWarMuseums | publisher = [[Imperial War Museums]] | location = United Kingdom | date = 7 June 2023 | format=video }}</ref>

<ref name="shahid in Israel" >{{cite news| url = https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-06-06/ty-article/.premium/explained-what-shahid-or-martyr-means-for-palestinians-and-israelis/0000018f-e351-d1da-adaf-f7df71ae0000 | title = Explained: What 'Shahid' or 'Martyr' Means for Palestinians and Israelis }}</ref>

<ref name="first shahid" >{{cite news| trans-title = "Samson was the first shahid" | script-title = he: "שמשון היה השאהיד הראשון" שוב היהודים אשמים. העיתונות הערבית חשפה את ההשראה למחבלים המתאבדים: שמשון הגיבור היה המתאבד הראשון בהיסטוריה | url = https://www.makorrishon.co.il/nrg/online/1/ART1/586/982.html | agency = [[Al-Ittihad (Emirati newspaper)]] | via = [[Makor Rishon]] (with criticism) | date = 27 May 2007 | script-quote = he: הכתבה, שפורסמה בעיתון "אל-אתחאד", היוצא לאור באיחוד האמירויות הערביות, תחת הכותרת "פיגועי ההתאבדות החלו ביהודים ולא הסתיימו בקמיקאזה", מתארת את פיגועי ההתאבדות לאורך ההיסטוריה, ומזכירה למשל את הטייסים היפנים ממלחמת העולם השנייה שצללו למותם כדי לפגוע באוניות אמריקניות, את ה"נמרים הטמילים" מסרי-לנקה, ואת המתאבדים הספרדים שפוצצו עצמם במהלך מלחמת האזרחים שפרצה במדינה בשנות ה-30 של המאה שעברה. | trans-quote = The article, published in the newspaper "Al-Ittihad", published in the United Arab Emirates, under the headline "Suicide attacks began with Jews and did not end with kamikazes", describes suicide attacks throughout history, and mentions, for example, the Japanese pilots from World War II who dived to their deaths to hit American ships, the "Tamil Tigers" from Sri Lanka, and the Spanish suicide bombers who blew themselves up during the civil war that broke out in the country in the 1930s. |language=he}} – Note: the Hebrew word used is "Shahid", which is derived from the Arabic word "Shaheed", meaning [[martyr]], but which is not generally used to refer to Jewish martyrs. It has connotations of terrorism in [[Modern Hebrew]]. </ref>

<ref name="alarabiya sam" >{{cite news| author = Kamal Qubaisi | date = 29 July 2010 | script-title = ar: اكتشاف أثري ينسف حكاية تدمير "شمشون" لمعبد فلسطيني بساعديه – زلزال بقوة 8 درجات دك الهيكل قبل 2900 عام | trans-title = An archaeological discovery debunks the story of Samson destroying a Palestinian temple with his own hands. An 8.0 magnitude earthquake destroyed the temple 2,900 years ago. | url = https://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010%2F07%2F29%2F115166 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250628144219/https://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010%2F07%2F29%2F115166 | archive-date = 2025-06-28 | work = العربية alarabiya.net
| script-quote = ar: منذ مئات السنين ونحن نتواتر حكاية "شمشون الجبار" وصديقته دليلة، وشهرته كخارق للقوة قام بتدمير معبد للفلسطينيين بيديه قبل 2900 عام في غزة القديمة، حيث وقف وصرخ "عليّ وعلى أعدائي يا رب" قبل دفعه لعمودين في الهيكل انهار بانهيارهما وتساقطت حجارته عليه وعلى من كان فيه من أعدائه الفلسطينيين، مسجلا بذلك أول عملية انتحارية في التاريخ.
| trans-quote = For hundreds of years, we have been hearing the story of “Samson the Mighty” and his girlfriend [[Delilah]], and his fame as a superhuman who destroyed a [[Philistine]] temple with his own hands 2,900 years ago in ancient Gaza, where he stood and cried “Against me and my enemies, O Lord!” before pushing two pillars in the temple, which collapsed and its stones fell on him and his Philistine enemies inside, thus marking the first suicide operation (عملية انتحارية) in history.
|language=ar}}</ref>

<ref name="CPoST" >{{cite web| title = Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism. Suicide Attack Database | url = http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1 | website = Cpostdata.uchicago.edu | publisher = [[University of Chicago]] | access-date = 24 March 2016 | archive-date = 24 January 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160124204240/http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php?clear=1 }}</ref>

<ref name="Hunter 2015 (AOAV)" >{{cite web| last=Hunter | first=Jane |date=5 June 2015 | title = Suicide bombings: What does the law actually say? | url = https://aoav.org.uk/2015/suicide-bombings-what-does-the-law-say/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150611185742/https://aoav.org.uk/2015/suicide-bombings-what-does-the-law-say/ | archive-date = 11 June 2015 | publisher = [[Action on Armed Violence]] (AOAV) }}</ref>

<ref name="Hoffman-6-2003" >{{cite journal| author1-link = Bruce Hoffman | last1 = Hoffman | first1 = Bruce | title = The Logic of Suicide Terrorism|journal= The Atlantic|date= June 2003|url= https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/06/the-logic-of-suicide-terrorism/302739/ | access-date = 4 October 2015 | quote = According to data from the Rand Corporation's chronology of international terrorism incidents, suicide attacks on average kill four times as many people as other terrorist acts. }}</ref>

<ref name="F24 KO SA" >{{harv|France24|2022}} "The massacre was planned as a suicide attack and all three Japanese militants had intended to mutilate their faces with their grenades to make identification more difficult. Two of them died but [[Kōzō Okamoto |Okamoto]] was wounded and captured." </ref>

<ref name="Ynet KO SA" >{{harv|Ynet|2022}} "The massacre was planned as a suicide attack and all three Japanese militants had intended to mutilate their faces with their grenades to make identification more difficult." </ref>

<ref name="Okamoto hope" >{{harv|Kowner|2022}} "Okamoto himself sought to take full responsibility for his actions. He was a model of cooperation in the interrogation, and confessed in the hope that he would be executed quickly." </ref>

<ref name="Wadie JC" >{{cite web| last1 = Bush | first1 = Lawrence | title = The Lod Airport Terrorist Attack | url = https://jewishcurrents.org/the-lod-airport-terrorist-attack | website = Jewish Currents | date = 29 May 2017 | quote = [[Wadie Haddad]] (Abu Hani), the Palestinian who was the primary organizer of the attack and later organized the Entebbe airport attack in Uganda, was poisoned to death by Mossad in early 1978. }}</ref>

<ref name="Moghadam 2006" >{{Cite book| year = 2006 | last = Moghadam | first = Assaf | author-link = Assaf Moghadam | chapter = Defining suicide terrorism | title = Root causes of suicide terrorism: the globalization of martyrdom | publisher = Routledge | isbn=978-0-415-77029-3 | editor-last = Pedahzur | editor-first = Ami | edition = Reprinted | series = Cass series on political violence | location = London | pages = 13–24 }}</ref>

<ref name="Benjamin" >{{cite web| last1 = Feinstein | first1 = Benjamin | date = 1 April 1947 | location = Karem Quarter, Jerusalem | title = Letter to: The President, Military Court Jerusalem | url = https://www.infocenters.co.il/jabo/jabo_multimedia/Files/linked/%D7%9713%20-3_43.PDF | website = www.infocenters.co.il | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250511212638/https://www.infocenters.co.il/jabo/jabo_multimedia/Files/linked/%D7%9713%20-3_43.PDF | archive-date = 2025-05-11 | page = 10 | quote = Now regarding the age of my brother Meir. So far the Prosecutors has tendered the following evidence on the subject: 1. A Birth Certificate issued by the Health Department, Government of Palestine, stating that the age of my brother Meir is 17 years 8 months. 2. My mother's sworn affidavit to the same effect. Medical Report by the Government Medical Officer, who was instructed to examine my brother at the request of the prosecutor, stating that my brother's age is 17½ yearв. Evidence by two military doctors that the age of my brother is 23-26 years. }}</ref>

<ref name="Bella" >{{cite web | last1 = Feinstein | first1 = Bella | title = SWORN by the said Mrs. BELLA FEINSTEIN of Jerusalem, before mе, Magistrete at Jerusalem this day of April 1947. | url = https://www.infocenters.co.il/jabo/jabo_multimedia/Files/linked/%D7%9713%20-3_42.PDF | date = April 1947 | website = www.infocenters.co.il/jabo/jabo_multimedia | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20241230172926/https://www.infocenters.co.il/jabo/jabo_multimedia/Files/linked/%D7%9713%20-3_42.PDF | archive-date = 2024-12-30 | page = 5 | quote = This affidavit is sworn in support of an application for a judgment declaring that my said son Meir was born in Jerusalem on the 30th day of July 1929, or alternatively that on the 3rd day of April, 1947 he had not yet attained the age of 18 years. }}</ref>

<ref name="Inquest Page 326" >{{Citation|title=In the Matter of the Inquest as to the Cause of Death of Emery E. Huyck, Deceased ''(Transcript of the May 23–25, 1927 Clinton County, Michigan Coroner's Inquest)''|page=326| publisher=State of Michigan |date=May 23–25, 1927}}</ref>

<ref name="Inquest Page 352" >{{Citation|title=In the Matter of the Inquest as to the Cause of Death of Emery E. Huyck, Deceased ''(Transcript of the May 23–25, 1927 Clinton County, Michigan Coroner's Inquest)''|page=352| publisher=State of Michigan |date=May 23–25, 1927}}</ref>

<ref name="Inquest Winchester" >{{Citation|title=In the Matter of the Inquest as to the Cause of Death of Emery E. Huyck, Deceased ''(Transcript of the May 23–25, 1927 Clinton County, Michigan Coroner's Inquest)''|pages=107, 135, 326, 328|publisher=State of Michigan|date=May 23–25, 1927}}</ref>

<ref name="Jones PhD Dissertation Page 1" >{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Amie |title=The Forgotten Children of Bath: Media and Memory of the Bath School Bombing of 1927 (PhD Dissertation) |year=2019 |publisher=[[University of Georgia]] |page=1 |url=https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/jones_amie_m_201908_phd.pdf |access-date=August 14, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706215616/https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/jones_amie_m_201908_phd.pdf |archive-date=July 6, 2022}} Independently published in 2021: {{ISBN|979-8-4961-5073-6}}.</ref>

<ref name="ellsworth ch 2" >{{cite web|url=http://daggy.name/tbsd/tbsd-t.htm#ChapterTwo|title=Chapter Two{{nbs}}– Writer's Experience|work=The Bath School Disaster|author=Ellsworth, Monty J.|year=1927| publisher = Bath School Museum Committee (1991 ed.) | format = online version | access-date = 21 September 2018 |url-status=usurped| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171024231535/http://daggy.name/tbsd/tbsd-t.htm#ChapterTwo | archive-date = 24 October 2017}}</ref>

<ref name="Burcar" >{{cite book |last=Burcar|first=Colleen|title=It Happened in Michigan: Remarkable Events That Shaped History|year=2011|publisher=Globe Pequot|url={{GBurl|3xcjTa3sRisC|pg=PA87}}|access-date=January 15, 2013|pages=86–87|isbn=978-0-7627-6754-0}}</ref>

<ref name="kikar" >{{cite news | title = שלושה אירועי "תָּמוֹת נַפְשִׁי עִם פְּלִשְׁתִּים" של גיבורינו בעזה | url = https://www.kikar.co.il/haredim-news/s8s5o8 | work = כיכר השבת www.kikar.co.il | date = 13 February 2024 |language=he| quote = כתב ההיסטוריון צבי אילן כי במהלך הקרב הקשה הוצת זחל"מ ישראלי, ונהגו ביצע מעשה הקרבה בל יאמן. הוא הסיע את הרכב הבוער לעבר שני זחל"מים מצריים, התנגש בהם ופוצץ אותם על יושביהם. מהדורה זו היא שלישית במספר של "תמות נפשי עם פלישתים", וההיסטוריה חוזרת על עצמה שוב ושוב בגבורת העם היהודי הנאבק באויביו.}}</ref>

<ref name="yNet Ali" >{{cite news | author1 = Shakib Ali ({{langx|ar|شكيب علي}}) {{langx|he|שקיב (שכיב) עלי}} | title = לשחרר אותם לפני שלחמאס לא יהיה מה להפסיד | url= https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/r1qcbdeit | work = Ynet | date = 8 December 2023 |language=he| quote = מצמררת המחשבה על הסיפור המקראי על שמשון הגיבור, שנתפס על ידי הפלישתים והוחזק בעזה, שם נקשר לעמודי המקדש. אחרי שהבין שלא יוכל להשתחרר, העדיף לנקום באויביו ומוטט את עמודי המבנה עליו ועל שוביו ואמר "תמות נפשי עם פלישתים".}}</ref>

<ref name="Judges 16" > From [[Judges 16]]:30 – Usually translated as '' 'Let me die with the Philistines' '' – {{cite web| title = Judges 16: Hebrew - English Bible - Mechon-Mamre | url = https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0716.htm | website = mechon-mamre.org }} '''English:''' 30 And Samson said: 'Let me die with the Philistines'. And he bent with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead that he slew at his death were more than they that he slew in his life. '''Hebrew:''' {{lang|he|ל  וַיֹּאמֶר שִׁמְשׁוֹן, תָּמוֹת נַפְשִׁי עִם-פְּלִשְׁתִּים, וַיֵּט בְּכֹחַ, וַיִּפֹּל הַבַּיִת עַל-הַסְּרָנִים וְעַל-כָּל-הָעָם אֲשֶׁר-בּוֹ; וַיִּהְיוּ הַמֵּתִים, אֲשֶׁר הֵמִית בְּמוֹתוֹ, רַבִּים, מֵאֲשֶׁר הֵמִית בְּחַיָּיו.}} </ref>

<ref name="AP DAV" >{{cite web | url=https://meirfeinstein.org/the-heroic-tale-of-meir-feinstein-and-moshe-barazani.html | title=The Heroic Tale of Feinstein & Barazani }}</ref>

<ref name="Masada" >{{cite book|last1=Hassan|first1=Riaz|title=Suicide Bombings|date=2011|publisher=Taylor & Francis.|page=8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DgQ_opkHdJ0C&q=Jewish++sect+suicidal&pg=PA8|access-date=13 October 2015|isbn=978-1-136-80452-6}} <br /> Quote: "Members of these sects numbered in the hundreds and, starting around AD 48, carried out suicidal missions to kill prominent Jews, temple priests who had succumbed to Hellenistic culture and Roman soldiers … Zealots and Sicarii continued their attacks for a quarter of a century, provoking brutal Roman retaliatory reprisals … The Jewish War finally ended at Masada. When the Roman army attacked this fortress at the end of AD 72, there were 960 insurgents and refugees within. Once the fall of the fortress became inevitable, Eleazar, the leader of the Zealots, persuaded Masada's defenders to engage in what remains one of the most famous group suicides in history. The Zealots in Masada preferred to die by their own hand rather than be captured by their Roman enemies. The symbolic act demonstrated their steadfast opposition to Roman oppression. The act of mass suicide was a political act."
* Citing (Rapoport 1984: 670): "… To generate a mass uprising, they escalated the struggle by shock tactics to manipulate fear, outrage, sympathy and guilt. Sometimes these emotional effects were provoked by terrorist atrocities which went beyond the consensual norms governing violence; at other times, they were produced by provoking the enemy into committing atrocities against his will."
* Citing (Pape 2005: 34): "… to be able to die nobly and freely… Only our shared death is able to protect our wives and children from violation and slavery … We, who have been brought up at home in this way, should set an example to others in our readiness to die… This suicide is commanded by our laws. Our wives and children ask for it. God himself has sent us the necessity for it." </ref>

<ref name="Margalit" >{{cite web| script-title = he: רסקין פַניה – "מרגלית" – העמותה להנצחת מורשת לח״י | url= https://lehi.org.il/he/%d7%a8%d7%a1%d7%a7%d7%99%d7%9f-%d7%a4%d6%b7%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%94/ | quote = הנצחה באנדרטה ביער לח"י במשמר איילון … שמה של פניה רסקין חרוט על לוח באנדרטה ביער לח"י | trans-quote = Commemoration at the monument in the Lehi Forest in Mishmar Ayalon … Fania Raskin's name is engraved on a plaque at the Lehi Forest memorial. |language=he-IL}} – Description: In the close up image, her name is the last on the list, with her Hebrew alias in brackets {{langx|he| פניה רסקין (מרגלית) |Fania Raskin (Margalit)}}. </ref>

<ref name="Samson (en)" >{{cite web | title= Raskin, Fania – Freedom Fighters of Israel Heritage Association | url= https://lehi.org.il/en/raskin-fania/ | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220707020736/https://lehi.org.il/en/raskin-fania/ | archive-date= 7 July 2022 | quote = Fania then spoke up and volunteered herself. She was sure that for an operation such as this, she would find the strength to stand and walk. "My life is no life anyway" she added. This was a "{{ill|Let me die with the Philistines|he|תמות נפשי עם פלשתים| lt =Let my soul die with the Philistines}}" proposal, the Samson option. Of course, her suggestion was rejected. Fania Raskin passed away on 20 July 1947, in Jerusalem. She was thirty-one. }}</ref>

<ref name="ansheim 2002" >{{cite book | title= Lehi People | script-title= he: לח"י אנשים | date= 2002 | location= Tel Aviv |page=800| url= https://books.lehi.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/%D7%9C%D7%97%D7%99-%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%9D-2-%D7%93%D7%99%D7%92%D7%99%D7%98%D7%9C%D7%99.pdf | access-date= 21 December 2024 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20241221184320/https://books.lehi.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/%D7%9C%D7%97%D7%99-%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%9D-2-%D7%93%D7%99%D7%92%D7%99%D7%98%D7%9C%D7%99.pdf | archive-date= 21 December 2024 | quote= כאשר תוכננה התנקשות בגנרל בארקר, מפקד הצבא הבריטי בארץ־ישראל, הועלה רעיון, שבחורה תטייל עם עגלת תינוק, שתתפוצץ כאשר הגנרל יעבור לידה. נשאלה השאלה איך הבחורה תצליח להסתלק לפני ההתפוצצות. כאן התפרצה פניה והציעה את עצמה. בשביל פעולה כזאת, אמרה, היא תמצא כוחות לעמוד וללכת. ״ממילא חיי אינם חיים״, הוסיפה היא התכוונה לפעולת ״תמות נפשי עם פלשתים״. הצעתה נדחתה, כמובן. פניה רסקין הלכה לעולמה ב־-20.7.1947ג׳ מנחם אב תש״ז, בירושלים והיא בת 31 |language=he-IL}}</ref>

<ref name="rev globes" >{{cite news | author1 = דרור פויר | title = תמות נפשי עם פלישתים | url = https://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1000419938 | work = [[Globes (newspaper)]] www.globes.co.il | date = 26 January 2009 | script-quote = he: שבצה"ל החמירו את נוהל "חניבעל" והנחו את החיילים למנוע בכל מחיר מקרה של "גלעד שליט 2". כלומר: אם אתה חייל ומנסים לחטוף אותך, עליך להתנגד. לא הולך? עליך להתאבד ולקחת כמה שיותר לוחמי חמאס אתך (מג"ד מגולני ממליץ על שימוש ברימון אישי…) … אם זהו הלך המחשבה, למה שלא יקחו את נוהל "חניבעל" וישדרגו אותו עוד קצת ויהפכו אותו לנוהל "שמשון"? למה לחכות שיבואו חוטפים כשאפשר לקחת את החיילים ולשלוח אותם ישר להתאבד, בבחינת תמות נפשי עם פלשתים, ולסגור עניין. }}</ref>

<ref name="Bundaberg" >{{cite news| title = Death for Terrorist In Palestine | url = https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/283150477 | newspaper = [[Bundaberg News Mail]] | date = 27 March 1944 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250531171811/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/283150477 | archive-date = 2025-05-31 | location = Jerusalem via London and Bundaberg | agency = The Jerusalem correspondent of the [[Associated Press]], London | quote = … the death sentence has been reintroduced in Palestine for certain terrorist of fences, Including carrying fire arms, ammunition, and bombs, also interfering with essential services. Reimposition of the death sentence follows a number of recent outrages including an attack on police headquarters at Jerusalem }}</ref>

<ref name="JTA 18 Apr 47" >{{cite news | title = Palestine Military Commander Orders Two More Jews to Hang; Commutes Sentence of Third | url = https://www.jta.org/archive/palestine-military-commander-orders-two-more-jews-to-hang-commutes-sentence-of-third | work = [[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]] | date = 18 April 1947 | quote = Lt. Gen. [[Gordon MacMillan |Gordon H.A. MacMillan]], Palestine military commander, today confirmed the death sentences imposed on two Palestine Jews and commuted the sentence of a third to life imprisonment. Under amendments to the Emrgency Defense Regulations published yesterday there is no appeal from his decision. The condemned men are [[Moshe Barazani]], 21, and [[Meir Feinstein]], whose age the prosecution claims is 23. The third youth is [[Daniel Azulai]]. Barazani is a self-confessed [[Avraham Stern |Sternist]], who told the military court which convicted him that "you will not frighten us with your gallows". Feinstein's mother insists that her son, a veteran of the [[British Army]], is only 17. Barazani was captured in Jerusalem during the [[March 1947 martial law in Mandatory Palestine |imposition of martial law]] with hand grenade in his possession. The other two youths were charged with having participated in an {{ ill |attack on the Jerusalem central railroad station|he}} last October. }}</ref>

<ref name="JTA 4 April 1947" >{{cite web| date = 4 April 1947 | title = Two More Palestinian Jews Sentenced to Death; Seven Now Stand in Shadow of Gallows | url = https://www.jta.org/archive/two-more-palestinian-jews-sentenced-to-death-seven-now-stand-in-shadow-of-gallows | website = [[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]] | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250511225304/https://www.jta.org/archive/two-more-palestinian-jews-sentenced-to-death-seven-now-stand-in-shadow-of-gallows | archive-date = 2025-05-11 | quote = Feinstein was sentenced to death following a government "expert's" testimony that he was at least 18 years old. The death sentence may not be imposed on anybody under that age. His brother attempted several times to tell the court that he was only 17, but he was refused permission to testify. Since the defendant's birth certificate was missing, the "expert" was ordered to estimate his age. }}</ref>

<ref name="MR 27 July 2017" >{{cite web | script-title = he: כל הדרך לגרדום: ימיו האחרונים של מאיר פיינשטיין | url = https://www.makorrishon.co.il/nrg/online/1/ART2/887/372.html | newspaper = [[Makor Rishon]] | date = 27 July 2017 | quote = מאיר פיינשטיין נולד וגדל בירושלים. אם שואלים את אתר הזיכרון הרשמי של חללי צה"ל או את ויקיפדיה, תאריך הלידה שלו הוא 5 באוקטובר 1927. לדברי אחיינו, המועד הנכון הוא יולי 1929. |language=he}}</ref>

<ref name="MF iz" >{{cite web | script-title = he: טוראי מאיר פיינשטיין | website= www.izkor.gov.il | url= https://www.izkor.gov.il/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A8%20%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%A9%D7%98%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9F/en_d9be30d455b8681b805f81f25da337aa }}</ref>

<ref name="MB iz" >{{cite web | script-title = he: טוראי משה (בן-ציון) ברזני | website= www.izkor.gov.il | url= https://www.izkor.gov.il/%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%94%20%D7%91%D7%9F-%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%95%D7%9F%20%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%96%D7%A0%D7%99/en_18a27eb9c7b1d394bdf784ea3e59b38c }}</ref>

<ref name="Ynet 9 March 2010" >{{cite news| title = MK Tibi ejected from Olei Hagardom plenum | url = https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3860306,00.html | work = [[Ynet]] News | date = 9 March 2010 |language=en}}</ref>

<ref name="study unit" >{{cite news| last1 = Kashti | first1 = Or | title = New study unit on pre-state fighters proves controversial | url = https://www.haaretz.com/2009-12-22/ty-article/new-study-unit-on-pre-state-fighters-proves-controversial/0000017f-ebc5-d3be-ad7f-fbef2c930000 | work = Haaretz | date = 22 December 2009 |language=en}} '''Quotes:'''
* An unnamed "senior university historian" said, "There are moral and philosophical questions that should be addressed when you teach 14-year-olds about people who chose to die rather than accept a pardon or negotiate with the British authorities … The new program embraces martyrdom and worships the victim for being a victim".
* "In a letter announcing the new program, (Education Minister [[Gideon Sa'ar]]) wrote, 'I hope the program, recounting Olei Hagardom's devotion to the struggle for Israel's independence, will bolster the students' ties with their people and heritage … and that their devotion will serve as an ideological model for our youth'." </ref>

<ref name="Aderet 2021-11-01" >{{cite news| last1 = Aderet | first1 = Ofer | date = 2021-11-01 | script-title = he: גם ממרחק של 75 שנה, קשה להאמין שהסיפור הזה התרחש בירושלים | url = https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/education/2021-11-01/ty-article-magazine/.premium/0000017f-db47-d856-a37f-ffc706930000 | newspaper = [[Haaretz]] | edition = Hebrew |language=he}}</ref>

<ref name="Sheleg 2007" > {{harvnb|Sheleg|2007}}
<br /> Quote 1: "Of course, we needed the condemned men's approval," (the Lehi veteran) recalls. "Moshe agreed right away, but since there was an [[Irgun]] man with him we had to request their approval, too. We asked the person responsible for Irgun prisoners in the jail, [[Eliyahu Tamler |Yehoshua Tamler]], what he thought, and he said they needed the consent of the top command. We had to wait a few days, despite fearing that they would be taken to the gallows in the meantime, until approval arrived from the commander of the Irgun, [[Menachem Begin]]."
<br /> Quote 2: (Yoram Tamir director of the [[Museum of Underground Prisoners]]) "…says the Lehi had envisioned a suicide operation during the hanging of one of their men prior to this incident: "They called it Operation Samson, in an allusion to the suicide of the biblical figure." Eliezer Ben-Ami, who prepared the makeshift orange grenades while he was imprisoned along with the two men, confirms that the plan was to turn their ascent to the gallows into an action that would harm the British authorities."
</ref>

<ref name="Chissin" > '''Hebrew version:''' {{cite web| trans-title = Name: Ben-Ami (Chissin) Eliezer – Nickname in Lehi: Yehezkel | script-title = he: שם: בן־עמי (חסין) אליעזר – כינוי בלח״י: יחזקאל | url = https://web.archivhttps://lehi.org.il/he/%D7%91%D7%9F%D6%BE%D7%A2%D7%9E%D7%99-%D7%97%D7%A1%D7%99%D7%9F-%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%A2%D7%96%D7%A8-%D7%99%D7%97%D7%96%D7%A7%D7%90%D7%9C/ | website = lehi.org.il/he | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230130084546/https://lehi.org.il/he/%D7%91%D7%9F%D6%BE%D7%A2%D7%9E%D7%99-%D7%97%D7%A1%D7%99%D7%9F-%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%A2%D7%96%D7%A8-%D7%99%D7%97%D7%96%D7%A7%D7%90%D7%9C/ | archive-date = 2023-01-30 | quote = בין תפקידיו המרובים: מדריך חבלה, סילוק פצצות, קצין ייצור, מפקד סדנא, ראש מדור ניסויים, מג"ד 276 ורע"נ אב"כ. (ראש ענף אטומית ביולוגית כימית). ביום 20 באפריל 1948 נשא אליעזר לאישה את חברתו מהלח"י דרורה גלעדי (רזניצקי), אותה הכיר בשנת 1943. נולדו להם: ארנון, דורון ורווית, ונכדים. | trans-quote = Among his many positions: sabotage instructor, bomb disposal, production officer, workshop commander, head of the experimental section, battalion commander 276 and senior engineer in A.B.C. (head of the Atomic Biological Chemical Branch). On 20 April 1948, Eliezer married his girlfriend from Lehi, Drora Giladi (Reznitzky), whom he had met in 1943. |language=he}} '''Translation note:''' In Hebrew it uses the acronyms {{langx|he|רע"נ אב"כ|[[Resh]].[[Ayin|Ayn]].[[Nun (letter) |Nun]]. [[Aleph]].[[Bet (letter) |Bet]].[[Kaph]].}} then expands them in brackets as {{langx|he|ראש ענף אטומית ביולוגית כימית||Branch head Atomic Biological Chemical}}. <br /> <!--
 --> '''English translation:''' {{cite web | title = Ben-Ami (Chissin) Eliezer – "Yechezkel" – Freedom Fighters of Israel Heritage Association | url = https://lehi.org.il/en/ben-ami-chassin-eliezer/ | work=lehi.org.il/en | quote = He became known for assembling 'Grenade Filled Oranges' used by [[Moshe Barazani]] and [[Meir Feinstein]], who blew themselves up three hours before their British-planned execution. He was released 8 February 1948, and stayed active until joining the [[IDF]] 31 May 1948. He was discharged September 1969 ranking Lieutenant-Colonel. Eliezer served in the 8th Brigade, the Engineering Corps, and the Ordnance Corps, from dismantling bombshells to Commanding a Battalion. In 1951 he successfully finished an Engineer Corps Officers' Course and was sent to study at the Technion. He was involved in developing and testing armaments. He graduated Command and HQ School. Among his positions: instructor, sapper, Production Officer, Experimental Branch Head, 276 Battalion Commander, and Head of the Atomic-Biological-Chemical Weapons Branch. }}</ref>

<ref name="Reznitsky (en)" >{{cite news| date = 25 May 2023 | last1 = Elbaz Alush | first1 = Korin | title = In honor of IDF's 75th anniversary, first recruits share stories from the frontlines |url=https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/sjb311f3rh | work = Ynetnews |language=en| quote=Ben-Ami was quite the character, and knew no fear. Even when he joined the army, he acted on his own terms. "I enlisted under a false name," he said. "I chose to enlist as Eliezer Reznitsky. I took the last name of my girlfriend, who waited for me for five years while I was in prison, and later she became my wife. I knew that the [Ben-Gurion's] [[Mapai Party]] didn't want the borders I wanted for the country, and that the IDF wouldn't be the liberation army of the Israeli nation. So, I acted as I did underground, where we had nicknames. I changed my last name so that I wouldn't be recognized, in case I needed to fight beyond the borders that the IDF set. Only when I received the rank of sergeant did I return to my original last name." Ben-Ami enlisted in the 8th Armored Brigade … he transferred to the Combat Engineering Corps, then to the Technology and Maintenance Corps, and then back to engineering. He enlisted in the first Engineering Officers Course, in which he excelled, and went on to fulfill various roles: sapper, explosives instructor, and also higher-ranking roles. }} (Note, this is an English version, not a direct translation of the story in Hebrew edition)</ref>

<ref name="Reznitsky (he)" > {{cite news| date = 24 May 2023 | last1 = אלבז-אלוש | first1 = קורין | trans-title = Pioneer Corps: The IDF celebrates 75 years, and those who enlisted when it was founded remember how it all began | script-title = he: חיל החלוץ: צה"ל חוגג 75, ואלו שהתגייסו עם הקמתו זוכרים איך הכול התחיל | url = https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/r1oxgsqhh | work = [[Ynet]] |language=he| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230526182429/https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/r1oxgsqhh | archive-date = 2023-05-26 | script-quote = he: … "התגייסתי עם שם בדוי … בחרתי להתגייס כאליעזר רזניצקי. לקחתי את שם משפחתה של חברתי, שחיכתה לי במשך חמש שנים כשישבתי בכלא ולימים הפכה לאשתי. ידעתי שמפא"י לא רוצה את גבולות הארץ שאני רציתי ושצה"ל לא יהיה צבא השחרור של עם ישראל, אז פעלתי כמו במחתרת, שבה היו לנו כינויים … רק כשקיבלתי דרגת סמל חזרתי לשם משפחתי המקורי" … בן עמי התגייס לחטיבה 8, חטיבת השריון הראשונה בפיקודו של יצחק שדה. משם עבר לחיל ההנדסה, ואז לחימוש, ושוב להנדסה. הוא יצא לקורס קציני ההנדסה הראשון, סיים בהצטיינות והמשיך לשלל תפקידים: מסלק פצצות, מדריך חבלה וראש ענף אב"כ. | trans-quote = … 'I enlisted under a false name … I chose to enlist as Eliezer Reznitzky. I took the last name of my girlfriend, who waited for me for five years while I was in prison and later became my wife. I knew that [[Mapai]] did not want the borders of the country that I wanted and that the IDF would not be the liberation army of the people of Israel, so I acted like I did in the underground, where we had nicknames … Only when I received the rank of sergeant did I return to my original last name' … Ben Ami enlisted in the 8th Brigade, the first armored brigade under the command of [[Yitzhak Sadeh]]. From there he transferred to the Engineering Corps, then to Armaments, and back to Engineering. He took the first Engineering Officers' Course, graduated with honors, and went on to hold a variety of positions: bomb disposal officer, sabotage instructor, and head of the ABC branch. }} – '''Notes:''' <br /> {{bullet}} The name is {{langx|he|אליעזר רזניצקי|Eliezer Reznitsky}} <br /> {{bullet}} The acronym is {{langx|he|אב"כ|A.B.C.}} with the letters [[Aleph]]–[[Bet (letter) |Bet]]–[[Kaph]], which stands for "atomic, biological, and chemical". </ref>

<ref name="EBA SA" >{{cite web| script-title = he: לוחמים / אליעזר "יחזקאל" בן עמי (לח"י) | trans-title = Fighters / Eliezer "Yehezkel" Ben Ami (Lehi) | url = https://shayaloni.co.il/portfolio/%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%A2%D7%96%D7%A8-%D7%91%D7%9F-%D7%A2%D7%9E%D7%99/ | website = שי אלוני shayaloni.co.il | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250513093014/https://shayaloni.co.il/portfolio/%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%A2%D7%96%D7%A8-%D7%91%D7%9F-%D7%A2%D7%9E%D7%99/ | archive-date = 2025-05-13 | script-quote = he: בן עמי היה זה שתכנן ויצר את שני "רימוני התפוז" בתוך כתלי בית הכלא, עבור משה ברזני (לח"י) ומאיר פיינשטין (אצ"ל), שפוצצו עצמם למוות כשלוש שעות לפני הוצאתם לגרדום. ב 1948, לאחר שחרורו מהכלא שב לפעילות בלח"י עד לפרוק המחתרת. בן עמי התגייס לצה"ל לחטיבה 8 עם כל לוחמי לח"י, בהמשך עבר להנדסה ולחיל החימוש. עסק בפיתוח אמצעי לחימה. בוגר ביה"ס לפיקוד ומטה. בין תפקידיו הרבים בצבא: מדריך חבלה וסילוק פצצות, קצין יצור, מפקד סדנא, ראש מדור ניסויים, מג"ד 276 וראש ענף לוחמת אב"כ. ב 1969, השתחרר מ צה"ל בדרגת סא"ל. |language=he-IL}}</ref>

<ref name="19 October 2005" >{{cite news | script-title = he: החדר האטום הראשון | url = https://www.haaretz.co.il/misc/2005-10-19/ty-article/0000017f-def9-d3ff-a7ff-fff906dc0000 | work = Haaretz הארץ – Hebrew edition | date = 19 October 2005 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250513090810/https://www.haaretz.co.il/misc/2005-10-19/ty-article/0000017f-def9-d3ff-a7ff-fff906dc0000 | archive-date = 2025-05-13 |language=he}}</ref>

<ref name="murdered by the British" >{{harv|Begin|1947}} Quote: {{langx|he|הם לא איבדו את עצמם לדעת. הם נרצחו על-ידי התליין הבריטי.||They did not commit the sin of suicide; they were murdered by the British executioner.}}</ref>

<ref name="hLLY LHY" > 128 Lehi Martyrs
* {{cite web | script-title = he: חללי לח"י – העמותה להנצחת מורשת לח״י | url = https://lehi.org.il/he/%D7%97%D7%9C%D7%9C%D7%99-%D7%9C%D7%97%D7%99/ |language=he-IL}}
* {{cite news | trans-title = Memorial Day ceremony for the fallen of Israel's armed forces, victims of hostilities, and 128 martyrs of the Lehi movement… | script-title = he: טקס יום הזיכרון לחללי מערכות ישראל, נפגעי פעולות האיבה ו-128 חללי לח"י, יום רביעי, 30.4.25, ב' באייר תשפ"ה, בשעה 10:30 – העמותה להנצחת מורשת לח״י | url = https://lehi.org.il/he/%d7%98%d7%a7%d7%a1-%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9d-%d7%94%d7%96%d7%99%d7%9b%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%9c%d7%97%d7%9c%d7%9c%d7%99-%d7%9e%d7%a2%d7%a8%d7%9b%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%a8%d7%90%d7%9c-%d7%a0%d7%a4%d7%92/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250417050159/https://lehi.org.il/he/%D7%98%D7%A7%D7%A1-%D7%99%D7%95%D7%9D-%D7%94%D7%96%D7%99%D7%9B%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9F-%D7%9C%D7%97%D7%9C%D7%9C%D7%99-%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%9C-%D7%A0%D7%A4%D7%92/ | archive-date = 17 April 2025 | access-date = 17 April 2025 |language=he-IL}}
</ref>

<ref name="EO 2007" >{{harvnb|Olmert|2007}}</ref>

<ref name="BN 2010" >{{harvnb|Netanyahu|2010}} "Which of us does not remember the almost unbelievable story of [[Moshe Barazani]] and Meir Feinstein? Grenades were smuggled to their prison cells in a basket of oranges. Their original plan was to blow themselves up together as they were being hung. However, it then became clear to them that one of the rabbis of the Jewish community intended to be there as they were executed. In order not to endanger him, the two decided that after his visit, they would take their fate into their own hands. They embraced firmly and exploded the grenades up against their hearts. It is doubtful that anyone could invent such an unbelievable story, a story which expresses supreme heroism, sublime love for country and people. Yes, love of country, love of the homeland, love for their people." </ref>

<ref name="1977 win" >{{Harv|Leibovitz|2018}} – Quote "There was no way, they thought, that Menachem Begin could really win the election. But on 17 May 1977, he did, sending Israel's upper crust into a tailspin."</ref>

<ref name="Tablet IAJBW" >{{Harv|Leibovitz|2018}} – Quote "They fastened the grenade to their hearts", Begin said emotionally, "and they pulled the pin. An Ashkenazi Jew? An Iraqi Jew? They were Jews! Brothers! Warriors!"</ref>

<ref name="in connection with" >{{Cite news| last=Sundby | first=Alex | date=2025-06-04 | title = Arrest in connection with Palm Springs fertility clinic bombing made at New York's JFK airport | url = https://www.cbsnews.com/news/palm-springs-bombing-arrest-jfk-airport/ | access-date = 2025-06-04 | work = [[CBS News]] |language=en}}</ref>

<ref name="Washington man" >{{Cite news| date = 2025-06-04 | title = FBI arrests Washington man in New York linked to explosion at a California fertility clinic, officials say | url = https://www.king5.com/article/news/crime/fbi-arrests-wa-man-new-york-linked-explosion-california-fertility-clinic/281-1e14d4aa-77b8-478b-a3b2-9cb7accd09ec | access-date = 2025-06-04 | work = [[KING-TV]]|language=en}}</ref>

<ref name="Suspect identified" >{{Cite news | date = 17 May 2025 | title = Bomber of California fertility clinic identified, described himself as pro-mortalist | url = https://bnonews.com/index.php/2025/05/bomber-of-california-fertility-clinic-described-as-pro-mortalist/ | publisher = [[BNO News]] }}</ref>

<ref name = BalchanPost>{{Cite news | url = https://thepalmspringspost.com/one-dead-after-bomb-explodes-outside-reproductive-center-in-downtown-palm-springs/ | title = One dead, four injured after explosion outside reproductive center in Downtown Palm Springs; police and FBI investigating as an act of terror | first = Kendall | last = Balchan | date = May 17, 2025 | work = Palm Springs Post | archive-date = May 17, 2025 | access-date = May 17, 2025 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250517225830/https://thepalmspringspost.com/one-dead-after-bomb-explodes-outside-reproductive-center-in-downtown-palm-springs/ | url-status = live }}</ref>

<ref name="srugim obt" >{{cite news| script-title = he: ברוך דיין האמת: נפטר לוחם לח"י אליעזר בן עמי | url = https://www.srugim.co.il/829766-%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%9a-%d7%93%d7%99%d7%99%d7%9f-%d7%94%d7%90%d7%9e%d7%aa-%d7%a0%d7%a4%d7%98%d7%a8-%d7%9c%d7%95%d7%97%d7%9d-%d7%9c%d7%97%d7%99-%d7%90%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%a2%d7%96%d7%a8-%d7%91%d7%9f |script-work = he:סרוגים | date = 15 August 2023 |language=he| script-quote = he:לאחר הקמת המדינה התגייס לצה"ל ושירת בחיל ההנדסה ובחיל החימוש, ובין תפקידו השונים הוא שימש מדריך חבלה, סילוק פצצות, קצין ייצור, מפקד סדנא, ראש מדור ניסויים, מג"ד 276 ורע"נ אב"כ.}} ({{langx|he|רע"נ אב"כ||head of [[WMDs]]}}) </ref>

<ref name = "Springs California" >{{Cite news | date = 17 May 2025 | title = Car explosion at fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California | url = https://bnonews.com/index.php/2025/05/explosion-fertility-clinic-in-palm-springs-california/ | access-date = 17 May 2025 | publisher = [[BNO News]] | archive-date = 17 May 2025 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250517203355/https://bnonews.com/index.php/2025/05/explosion-fertility-clinic-in-palm-springs-california/ | url-status = live }}</ref>

<ref name = "FBI calls it" >{{Cite news | last1 = Ward | first1 = Jasper | last2 = Gardner | first2 = Timothy | date = 17 May 2025 | title = Bomb kills one near California fertility clinic; FBI calls it 'terrorism' | url = https://www.reuters.com/world/us/bomb-explodes-near-california-reproductive-health-facility-killing-one-mayor-2025-05-17/ | access-date = May 17, 2025 | work = [[Reuters]] }}</ref>

<ref name = "intentional act" >{{Cite web | date = 2025-05-17 | title = One person dead in Palm Springs explosion called an 'intentional act of terrorism' | url = https://www.desertsun.com/live-story/news/local/2025/05/17/loud-boom-rattles-palm-springs-area-desert-sun-seeking-information/83695784007/ | access-date = 2025-06-03 | website = The Desert Sun | language = en-US}}</ref>

<ref name = "nihilistic ideations" >{{Cite web | last = Rodriguez | first = Matthew | date = 2025-05-18 | title = FBI: Palm Springs explosion suspect "had nihilistic ideations", is believed dead after fertility clinic bombing | url = https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/palm-springs-explosion-riverside-county-southern-california/ | access-date = 2025-05-18 | website = [[CBS News]] | language = en-US | archive-date = 19 May 2025 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250519210319/https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/palm-springs-explosion-riverside-county-southern-california/ | url-status = live}}</ref>

<ref name = "Desert Sun" >{{Cite news | date = 17 May 2025 | title = One person dead in 'intentional act of violence' in downtown Palm Springs | url = https://www.desertsun.com/live-story/news/local/2025/05/17/loud-boom-rattles-palm-springs-area-desert-sun-seeking-information/83695784007/ | access-date = 17 May 2025 | publisher = [[The Desert Sun]] | archive-date = 18 May 2025 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250518013239/https://www.desertsun.com/live-story/news/local/2025/05/17/loud-boom-rattles-palm-springs-area-desert-sun-seeking-information/83695784007/ | url-status = live }}</ref>

<ref name = "NBCNews1" >{{Cite news | last1 = Blankstein | first1 = Andrew | last2 = Cohen | first2 = Rebecca | date = May 17, 2025 | title = 1 dead, 4 hurt in Palm Springs car explosion deemed 'act of terrorism' by FBI | url = https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/palm-springs-explosion-rcna207467 | access-date = May 17, 2025 | publisher = [[NBC News]] | archive-date = May 18, 2025 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250518192046/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/palm-springs-explosion-rcna207467 | url-status = live }}</ref>

<ref name="Poland Park" >{{cite web | url=https://www.axios.com/2025/06/04/bondi-extradite-poland-daniel-jongyon-park | title=Scoop: Bondi helps secure extradition of fertility clinic bombing suspect to U.S. From Poland | date=4 June 2025 }}</ref>

<ref name="Kadri" >{{cite book| last1 = Kadri | first1 = Sadakat | date = 2012 | title = Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia… | publisher = [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] |isbn=978-0-09-952327-7| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ztCRZOhJ10wC&q=Heaven+on+Earth:+A+Journey+Through+Shari%27a+Law | page=168 }}</ref>

<ref name="disap" >{{cite web | url = https://mondoweiss.net/2018/05/remarkable-disappearing-terrorism/ | title = The remarkable disappearing act of Israel's car-bombing campaign in Lebanon or: What we (Do not) talk about when we talk about 'terrorism' | date = 7 May 2018 }}</ref>

<ref name="Begin 1981 IAJBF" >{{Harvnb|Begin|1981}}: {{langx|he|המפקד הגדול במחוזות היה תימני; עוזי היה ספרדי; גידי, שעשה את הפעולה ההיסטורית של מלון המלך דויד, היה ספרדי; הממונה על כל האסירים בלטרון היה תימני - וכל הבחורים שלנו עמדו דום לפניו. איזו בעיה? אין לנו. כולנו יהודים. כולנו אחים. כולנו לוחמים … יש ביניהם עולי גרדום, אשר עד הרגע האחרון לחייהם שרו את שיר ״התקווה״ והפליאו עולם ומלואו בגבורתם המופתית. והם הלכו לבתי־הסוהר, למחנות ריכוז, הם נלחמו ולא נשברו, הם זעקו בפני השופטים הבריטים את המילים ״אנחנו לא מכירים בלל בשלטונכם - עליכם להסתלק מכאן, מארץ־ישראל״. פיינשטיין היה ממוצא אירופאי, איך קוראים לזה, אשכנזי; משה ברזני היה ספרדי מעירק. בלילה לאחר שנידונו למוות, והיו צריכים בבוקר־בבוקר להוריד אותם מן התלייה, והרב היה איש זקן, הוא אמד שיבוא להוריד אותם, ולא רצו לפגוע ברב, הם לקחו ללבותיהם רימון יד, לחצו. אשכנזים? עירקים? יהודים. אחים. לוחמים.}}</ref>

<ref name="Begin 1964 quote" >{{harvnb|Begin|1964}}: {{langx|he|והשניים בהם, מאיר פינשטיין, שאבותיו באו מאירופה, ומשה ברזני, שהוריו באו מבבל, עשו מעשה שלא היה כמוהו במלחמות השחרור. משפחתם הלוחמת עשתה כל מאמץ כדי להצילם מידי התליין, אבל ביום אחד הוברר כי לא תשיג עוד ידם להוציאם מידיו. שני לוחמים אלה, האחד מן האצ״ל והשני מן הלח״י, האחד אשכנזי והשני ספרדי, החליטו שלא יפלו בידי התליין, אלא גם במותם יילחמו, וכך עם רימון מוסתר בבגדיהם ילכו אל מקום ההוצאה להורג ויפעילוהו בנוכחות כל התליינים. בא אליהם הרב וביקש מהם שירשו לו ללוותם לגרדום, אך הם, ביודעם את רצונם, את תכניתם ואת שאיפתם, התחננו לפניו שלא יבוא בבוקר השכם ללכת עמם בדרך האחרונה. הוא עמד על שלו והם על שלהם. ומשנפרד מהם, לאחר ששלושתם שרו את האדיר בשירי התהילה — ״אדון עולם אשר מלך בטרם כל יציר נברא״ — והתייחדו עם בוראם, כדי לא לפגוע בו, ברב, בעת ההוצאה להורג, לחצו בין לבותיהם את רימון היד, וכך גמרו חייהם בתא המוות. חיבוק אחים כזה של שני יהודים צעירים, של שני לוחמים, אשר בגלל מורשת הגולה נדבק בהם עדיין התו המפריד של אשכנז וספרד — זהו הסמל המובהק ביותר והמקודש ביותר של אהבת ישראל, ללא הבדל מוצא וללא הבדל עדה. }}</ref>

}}

=== Sources ===
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* {{cite web| last = Begin | date = 1964-12-08 | author-link = מנחם בגין | script-title = he: הישיבה הארבע-מאות-ושמונה-עשרה של הכנסת החמישית יום שלישי, ג׳ טבת תשכ״ה (8 דצמבר 1964) הודעת הממשלה על מיזוג עדות - דיון | url = https://db.begincenter.org.il/article/%D7%94%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%91%D7%94-%D7%94%D7%90%D7%A8%D7%91%D7%A2-%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%94-%D7%A2%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%94-%D7%A9%D7%9C-%D7%94%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%A1%D7%AA/ | website = מאגר כתבי מנחם בגין - מרכז מורשת בגין | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220811115958/https://db.begincenter.org.il/article/%D7%94%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%91%D7%94-%D7%94%D7%90%D7%A8%D7%91%D7%A2-%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%94-%D7%A2%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%94-%D7%A9%D7%9C-%D7%94%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%A1%D7%AA/ | archive-date = 2022-08-11 |language=he-IL}}

* {{cite web | last = Begin | first = Menachem | author-link = Menachem Begin | year = 1981 | trans-title = Election speech at Malki Yisrael Square – known as the Tchach-Tchachim Speech | script-title = he: נאום בחירות בכיכר מלכי ישראל (מוכר כנאום הצ'חצ'חים) |work=מאגר כתבי מנחם בגין - מרכז מורשת בגין | url = https://db.begincenter.org.il/article/%D7%A0%D7%90%D7%95%D7%9D-%D7%91%D7%97%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%9B%D7%99%D7%9B%D7%A8-%D7%9E%D7%9C%D7%9B%D7%99-%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%9C-%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%9B%D7%A8-%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%90%D7%95/
|language=he-IL}} — Hebrew Wikipedia page about the speech: {{ill|The Tchach-Tchachim Speech|he|נאום הצ'חצ'חים}}

* {{cite web| last1 = Fisk | first1 = Robert | date = 14 March 2008 | author1-link = Robert Fisk | url = http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/14/7682 | title = The Cult of the Suicide Bomber | website = commondreams.org }}

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* {{Cite book| last1 = Hersh | first1 = Seymour | year = 1991 | author1-link = Seymour Hersh | title = The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy | publisher = Random House }}

* {{Cite news| last = Klein | first = Yair | date = 2022-05-03 | url = https://www.srugim.co.il/669799-%D7%94%D7%99%D7%95%D7%9D-%D7%91%D7%94%D7%99%D7%A1%D7%98%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%94-%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%A9%D7%98%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9F-%D7%95%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%96%D7%A0%D7%99-%D7%9E%D7%A7%D7%93%D7%99 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250630083151/https://www.srugim.co.il/669799-%D7%94%D7%99%D7%95%D7%9D-%D7%91%D7%94%D7%99%D7%A1%D7%98%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%94-%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%A9%D7%98%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9F-%D7%95%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%96%D7%A0%D7%99-%D7%9E%D7%A7%D7%93%D7%99 | archive-date = 2025-06-30 | work = srugim.co.il | script-title = he: היום בהיסטוריה: פיינשטיין וברזני מקדימים את התליין | trans-title = Today in History: Feinstein and Barzani outrun the executioner | location = Israel |language=he}} (Note: "today in history" refers to the anniversary in the Hebrew calendar)

* {{cite news| last1 = Kowner | first1 = Rotem | author-link = Rotem Kowner | date = 27 May 2022 | title = The Strange Story of the Japanese Terrorists Behind the '72 Israel Airport Massacre | url = https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-05-27/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/the-strange-story-of-the-terrorists-behind-the-israel-airport-massacre/00000181-0661-dcf3-a395-3fe1d10f0000 }}

* {{Cite book| last1 = Lankford | first1 = Adam | year = 2013 | title = The Myth of Martyrdom: What Really Drives Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self-Destructive Killers | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_QXNiFSGpjEC&q=myth+of+martyrdom|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan | location = New York |isbn=978-0-230-34213-2}}<!-- replaced with {{sfn}} above <ref> Lankford, Adam. (2013). ''The Myth of Martyrdom: What Really Drives Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self-Destructive Killers'' (p. 61); {{ISBN|978-0-23-034213-2}}.</ref> -->

* {{cite magazine| date = 29 June 2018 | last1 = Leibovitz | first1 = Liel | url = https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/menachem-begin-lessons-for-resistance-to-trump | title = In Menachem Begin's Rise, Lessons for the #Resistance to Trump | magazine = [[Tablet (magazine)]] }}

* {{cite web| date = 9 March 2010 | last1 = Netanyahu | author1-link = Benjamin Netanyahu | title = PM Netanyahu's Speech at the Knesset Special Session in Memory of the Jewish Prisoners Hung from the Gallows | url = https://www.gov.il/en/pages/speechgardom090310 | work = www.gov.il/en }}

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* {{Cite book| year = 2005 | last1 = Pape | first1 = Robert | author1-link = Robert Pape | title = Dying to Win | publisher = [[Random House]] | location = [[New York City|New York]] | isbn=978-1-58836-460-9 | url = https://archive.org/details/dyingtowinstrate00pape }}

* {{Cite book| year = 2010 | last1 = Pape | first1 = Robert | author1-link = Robert Pape | last2 = Feldman | first2 = James K. | title = Cutting the Fuse: The Explosion of Global Suicide Terrorism and How to Stop It | publisher = [[University of Chicago Press]] |isbn=978-0-226-64560-5| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qZuXdUgb1gsC }}

* {{cite book| year = 2004 | last = Pedahzur | first = Ami | author-link = Ami Pedahzur | title = Suicide Terrorism | publisher = [[Polity]] |isbn=978-0-7456-3383-1| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_5XBVsosvzYC&pg=PA66 | access-date = 22 March 2015 }}

* {{cite news| last1 = Pomerantz | first1 = Batsheva | date = 19 April 2007 | title = The writing on the wall | url = https://www.jpost.com/local-israel/in-jerusalem/the-writing-on-the-wall-58620 | work = [[The Jerusalem Post]]
| quote = It was termed "Operation Shimshon" after the biblical Samson who brought down with him the crowded Philistine temple, claiming "let me die with the Philistines". Barazani and Feinstein were eager to carry out the plan. {{ill|Eliezer Ben-Ami|he|אליעזר בן-עמי}}, an imprisoned Lehi member, assembled hand grenades from pieces that were smuggled into the prison separately…
|language=en}}

* {{cite news | last = Rinon | first = Yoav | date = 2024-03-16 | title = The destructive wish for revenge followed by suicide is rooted in the Israeli ethos | newspaper = [[Haaretz]] | url = https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2024-03-16/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/the-destructive-wish-for-revenge-followed-by-suicide-is-rooted-in-the-israeli-ethos/0000018e-42e8-de41-adef-d7ed95dc0000 | access-date = 2025-06-08 }}

* {{cite web| last =Sheleg | first = Yair | date = 2007-04-07 | title = The Good Jailer | newspaper = [[Haaretz]] | url = https://www.haaretz.com/2007-04-07/ty-article/the-good-jailer/0000017f-e225-d75c-a7ff-feaddde60000 |url-access=subscription |access-date=24 July 2008 }} — Archive: {{cite web| title = The good jailer | newspaper = [[Haaretz]] | url = http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/846330.html | archive-date = 26 March 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090326071126/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/846330.html }}

* {{Cite news| last = Weisstuch | first = Moshe | date = 2021-05-21 | url = https://www.israelhayom.co.il/military-life/article/1241619 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20250507001522/https://www.israelhayom.co.il/military-life/article/1241619 | archive-date = 2025-05-07 | work = [[Israel Hayom]] | script-title = he: בגיל 98: לוחם המחתרת שסייע להתאבדות עולי הגרדום לא מתחרט | trans-title = At 98: The underground fighter who helped the suicide of the Gallows immigrants has no regrets |language=he}}

* {{cite news| last1 = Zbeedat | first1 = Nagham | title = Explained: What 'shahid' or 'martyr' means for Palestinians and Israelis | url = https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-06-06/ty-article/.premium/explained-what-shahid-or-martyr-means-for-palestinians-and-israelis/0000018f-e351-d1da-adaf-f7df71ae0000 | newspaper = [[Haaretz]] | date = 23 June 2024 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20250315131622/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-06-06/ty-article/.premium/explained-what-shahid-or-martyr-means-for-palestinians-and-israelis/0000018f-e351-d1da-adaf-f7df71ae0000 | archive-date = 2025-03-15 }}

==== Agency authorship ====

* {{cite web| ref = {{harvid|France24|2022}} | title = Kozo Okamoto's long life after Israel suicide mission | url = https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220531-kozo-okamoto-s-long-life-after-israel-suicide-mission | website = [[France 24]] | location = [[Beirut]] | agency = [[Agence France-Presse]] (AFP) | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220531042329/https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220531-kozo-okamoto-s-long-life-after-israel-suicide-mission | archive-date = 2022-05-31 | date = 31 May 2022 }}

* {{cite web| ref = {{harvid|Ynet|2022}} | url = https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/rkxxsvmu9 | title = Kozo Okamoto's long life after Israel suicide mission 50 years ago | work = [[Ynetnews]] | agency = [[Agence France-Presse]] (AFP) | date = 31 May 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220601014501/https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/rkxxsvmu9 | archive-date = 2022-06-01 }}

{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{excessive examples|section|date=May 2025}}<!-- check if these correspond to missing or incomplete citations above before removing -->

=== Books ===
{{Refbegin |30em}}
* {{Cite book|last=Barlow|first=Hugh|title=Dead for Good|publisher=Paradigm Publishers|year=2007|isbn=978-1-59451-324-4}}
* {{Cite book|last=Bloom|first=Mia|title=Dying to Kill|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York|year=2005|isbn=978-0-231-13320-3|url=https://archive.org/details/dyingtokillallur00bloo}}
* {{Cite book|last=Davis|first=Joyce M.|year=2004|title=Martyrs: Innocence, Vengeance, and Despair in the Middle East|url=https://archive.org/details/martyrsinnocence00davi|url-access=registration| publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1-4039-6681-0}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Falk|first1= Ophir|last2=Morgenstern|first2=Henry|title=Suicide Terror: Understanding and Confronting the Threat|publisher=Wiley|location=Hoboken, NJ|year=2009|isbn=978-0-470-08729-9}}
* {{Cite book|last=Fall|first=Bernard B.|author-link=Bernard B. Fall|title=Hell in a Very Small Place|publisher=Da Capo Press| location=New York|year=1985|isbn=978-0-306-80231-7}}
* {{Cite book|last=Gambetta|first=Diego|title=Making Sense of Suicide Missions|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]| location=Oxford Oxfordshire|year=2005|isbn=978-0-19-927699-8}}
* {{Cite book|last=Hafez|first=Mohammed|author-link=Mohammed Hafez (academic)|title=Suicide Bombers in Iraq|publisher=U.S. Institute of Peace Press|location=Washington|year=2007|isbn=978-1-60127-004-7|url=https://archive.org/details/suicidebombersin00hafe}}
* {{cite book|last=Hassan|first=Riaz|year=2010|title=Life as a Weapon: The Global Rise of Suicide Bombings|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|isbn=978-0-415-58885-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Hassan|first=Riaz|year=2011|title=Suicide Bombings|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=978-0-415-58886-7}}
* {{Cite book|last=Hudson|first=Rex|title=Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why|publisher=The Lyons Press|year=2002|isbn=978-1-58574-754-2}}
* {{Cite book|last=Jayawardena|first=Hemamal|title=Forensic Medical Aspects of Terrorist Explosive Attacks|publisher=Zeilan Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-9793624-2-2}}
* {{Cite book|last=Khosrokhavar|first=Farhad|title=Suicide Bombers|publisher=Pluto Press|location=[[Sydney]]|year=2005|isbn=978-0-7453-2283-4|url=https://archive.org/details/suicidebombersal00khos_0}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Oliver|first1=Anne Marie|last2=Steinberg|first2=Paul|title=The Road to Martyrs' Square|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|year=2004|isbn=978-0-19-530559-3}}
* {{cite book|author=Lewis, Jeffrey W.|title=The Business of Martyrdom: A History of Suicide Bombing|url=https://archive.org/details/businessofmartyr0000lewi|url-access=registration|year=2012|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=978-1-61251-097-2}}
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* {{Cite book|last=Scheit|first=Gerhard|title=Suicide Attack|publisher=Ca Ira Verlag|year=2004|isbn=978-3-924627-87-4|language=de}}
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* {{Cite book|last=Skaine|first=Rosemarie|author-link=Rosemarie Skaine|title=Female Suicide Bombers|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson|year=2006|isbn=978-0-7864-2615-7}}
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{{Refend}}

=== Articles ===
{{Refbegin |30em}}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Atran | first1 = Scott |author1-link=Scott Atran |year = 2003 | title = Genesis of suicide terrorism | url = https://jeannicod.ccsd.cnrs.fr/ijn_00509568/file/genesis_of_Suicide_terrorism.pdf| journal = Science | volume = 299 | issue = 5612| pages = 1534–39 | doi=10.1126/science.1078854 | pmid=12624256| bibcode = 2003Sci...299.1534A | s2cid = 12114032 }}
* Butterworth, Bruce Robert; Dolev, Shalom; Jenkins, Brian Michael (2012). "[http://transweb.sjsu.edu/PDFs/research/2978-israeli-bus-public-transportation-attacks.pdf Security Awareness for Public Bus Transportation: Case Studies of Attacks Against the Israeli Public Bus System]", [[Mineta Transportation Institute]]; accessed March 22, 2015.
* Conesa, Pierre (2004). "Aux origines des attentats-suicides". ''Le Monde diplomatique'', June 2004; accessed March 22, 2015.
* Hoffman, Bruce (2003). "The logic of suicide terrorism". ''The Atlantic'', June 2003 accessed March 22, 2015.
* Kix, Paul [http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/12/05/the_truth_about_suicide_bombers/?page=full "The truth about suicide bombers"], boston.com, December 5, 2010; accessed March 22, 2015.
* {{cite journal | last1 = Lankford | first1 = Adam | year = 2010 | title = Do Suicide Terrorists Exhibit Clinically Suicidal Risk Factors? A Review of Initial Evidence and Call for Future Research | journal = Aggression and Violent Behavior | volume = 15 | issue = 5| pages = 334–40 | doi=10.1016/j.avb.2010.06.001}}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Takeda | first1 = Arata | year = 2010 | title = Suicide bombers in Western literature: Demythologizing a mythic discourse | journal = Contemporary Justice Review | volume = 13 | issue = 4| pages = 455–75 | doi=10.1080/10282580.2010.517985| citeseerx = 10.1.1.981.5792 | s2cid = 54018791 }}
{{Refend}}

=== Webpages ===
{{Refbegin |30em}}
* Kassim, Sadik H. [http://btci.stanford.clockss.org/cgi/reprint/8/2/204.pdf "The Role of Religion in the Generation of Suicide Bombers"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606091254/http://btci.stanford.clockss.org/cgi/reprint/8/2/204.pdf |date=2013-06-06 }}; accessed March 22, 2015.
* [[Martin Kramer|Kramer, Martin]] (1996); accessed March 22, 2015. [https://web.archive.org/web/20021105210644/http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/Sacrifice.htm "Sacrifice and "Self-Martyrdom" in Shi'ite Lebanon"];  accessed March 22, 2015.
* Sarraj, Dr. Eyad. [http://www.missionislam.com/conissues/palestine.htm "Why we have become Suicide Bombers"]; accessed March 22, 2015.
* Feffer, John. [http://www.truthout.org/080609K "Our Suicide Bombers: Thoughts on Western Jihad"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100808202547/https://www.truthout.org/080609K |date=2010-08-08 }}, 6 August 2009; accessed March 22, 2015. Website: www.truthout.org
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{commons category|Suicide terrorism}}
* Dataset: [[doi:10.1177/0022343320978260|The CPOST Database on Suicide Attacks (DSAT)]]

{{world topic| :Category: Suicide bombings in | title = Categories: [[:Category: Suicide bombings by country |Suicide bombings by country]] | noredlinks=x }}
{{Suicide navbox}}
{{Terrorism topics}}
{{Cold War}}
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[[Category:Suicide attacks| ]]
[[Category:Murder–suicides| ]]
[[Category:Suicide types]]
[[Category:Terrorism tactics]]