Suicide squad: Boko Haram’s use of the female suicide bomber

Boko Haram first began using the tactic of suicide bombings in 2011 and in 2014 started using female suicide bombers. This research focuses on gender differences in the use of suicide bombers. The data were collected using open sources from June 16, 2011 to June 15, 2018. Using this longitudinal data, trends are described over that 7-year period, focusing on the use of females. A majority of the suicide bombings target civilians in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. More than half of the bombers were women and girls, some as young as 7?years old, and there were more than 60 incidents where the bomber was below the age of 15. More female bombers were used to targets civilians, whereas men were used more often to target government, police, and military targets. Female suicide bombers were used in Cameroon, whereas males were used more often in Nigeria. Additionally, females used suicide belts or vests, whereas men carried out the overwhelming majority of vehicle-borne suicide bombings. In many cases, the use of the women as bombers involved coercion. The unprecedented use of female suicide bombers, particularly young girls, should be a focus of policy moving forward.     

匿名威胁爆炸案的新特点及其现场处置对策

近些年北京发生匿名威胁爆炸案件显现猛升势头,并出现一些新的特点.对这类案件的现场处置应遵循"信、严、快、判、细、敢"六字方针.     

侦破石家庄“3·16”特大爆炸案的五个关键环节

迅速确定犯罪嫌疑人;决策果断、开展大搜捕;强烈的侦查意识、一丝不苟的责任心;基层指挥员果敢顽强、灵活运用战术,是在极短的时间内成功侦破石家庄"3·16"特大爆炸案的五个关键环节.此案的侦破是我国公安史上全警动员、全民动员的成功典范.     

论爆炸现场的救援和身份认证——以恐怖主义爆炸袭击为背景

恐怖主义是威胁当今世界和平的一个重要因素,目前恐怖活动在全球有愈演愈烈的趋势;我国在新世纪也同样面临恐怖袭击的威胁。爆炸手段是恐怖分子发动袭击的主要手段,爆炸现场的救援和身份认证是各国应对恐怖袭击的难题。本文介绍了恐怖主义爆炸案件的概念,分析了恐怖主义爆炸袭击常用的手段和现场的特点,借鉴以色列的经验,论述了现场救援和身份认证的程序和步骤。     

美国波士顿爆炸案对我国反恐能力建设的启示

波士顿爆炸案与"独狼"式恐怖袭击极为相似,美国政府在案件侦办过程中表现出了强大的行动力,但也存在着情报分析研判不足、现场安保体系不健全、对新闻媒体等资源管理不严等问题。我国同样面临恐怖活动的现实威胁。以此为鉴,我国政府必须加强体系和能力建设,提高反恐工作效能:一是要加强反恐教育,增强人民群众居安思危的意识;二是要构建严密的情报获取研判机制;三是要构筑"软"、"硬"目标周围严密的防恐怖袭击体系;四是要加强对"独狼"式恐怖袭击的研究;五是要加强媒体管控,激发社会公众参与反恐工作的热情。     

Suicide Bombers in Iraq, 2003–2010: Disaggregating Targets Can Reveal Insurgent Motives and Priorities

Extending data reported by Mohammed Hafez in 2007, we compiled a database of 1,779 suicide bombers who attempted or completed attacks in Iraq from 2003 through 2010. From 2003 through 2006, monthly totals of suicide bombers show a pattern different from the pattern of non-suicide insurgent attacks, but from 2007 through 2010 the two patterns were similar. This biphasic pattern indicates that suicide attacks sometimes warrant separate analysis but sometimes are just one tactic in a larger envelope of insurgent violence. We also show that only 13 percent of suicide bombers targeted coalition forces and international civilians, primarily during the early years of the conflict, whereas 83 percent of suicide bombers targeted Iraqis (civilians, members of the Anbar Awakening Movement, Iraqi security forces, and government entities) in attacks that extended throughout the duration of the insurgency. These results challenge the idea that suicide attacks are primarily a nationalist response to foreign occupation, and caution that “smart bombs” may be more often sent against soft targets than hard targets. More generally, our results indicate that suicide attacks must be disaggregated by target in order to understand these attacks as the expression of different insurgent priorities at different times.     

End Matter

One of the most intriguing, yet forgotten, terrorist groups in history is the Galleanists, an innovative group of militant Italian anarchists active in the United States during the early part of the twentieth century. They introduced tactics and strategies that are widely used today in the world of terrorism. This article examines the rise and fall of the group, and discusses how America's experience with it holds many lessons for understanding today's global terrorist threat.     

Precision Terror: Suicide Bombing as Control Technology

Suicide bombing can be understood as a technology that successfully integrates people, cultures, and hardware into precise, intelligent, lethal weapons systems. Lacking access to the sophisticated electronic guidance systems of their enemies, terrorists have developed a cost-effective alternative technology by using social and cultural pressure to convert human beings into guidance systems for terrorist ordnance. This demonstrates that while terrorists tend to be imitative in their technologies, they can still be effective and difficult to predict. A significant implication that arises from this discussion is that the American tendency to assume that “high-tech” devices will automatically confer an advantage on the United States in the struggle against terrorism should be reconsidered.     

Suicide bombers in Western literature: demythologizing a mythic discourse

In facing the challenge of suicide terrorism today on a global scale, it is tempting to attribute the phenomenon to cultural or religious behavior patterns observed solely in non‐Western countries. Yet recent scholarly research on its possible cultural or religious origins has led less to convincing and satisfactory results than to an unresolved aporia between arbitrariness and contingency. By the same token, little notice is taken of the fact that, in Western history and literature, actions and figures can be found whose development and strategies conspicuously resemble those of today’s suicide bombers. A series of such analogous examples in Western literature from antiquity to the present is explored in order to provide deeper insights into situational and systemic factors at work beyond cultural and religious determinants. To more effectively counter suicide terrorism, alternative policies are proposed with the vision of a peaceful coexistence of diverse cultures and religions.