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Suicide Attack

Suicide attacks--increasingly recurrent phenomena--destabilize and terrorize local populations while bringing widespread attention to insurgencies throughout the world. By exploring the motives behind this inexpensive, effective tactic, RAND has provided useful and timely information to military, police, intelligence, and security services on addressing and countering this type of threat.

Commentary

When Terrorists Kill Terrorists

Battles between rival rebel groups and within terrorist organizations are not uncommon. Terrorists may compete with each other, sometimes in deadly battles, for the control of sources of financing. Some of the internal struggles are about who will lead.

May 5, 2014
Research Brief

Predicting Suicide Attacks: Characteristics of Bombings in Israel

The threat of suicide bombings in the United States and elsewhere prompted the Department of Homeland Security to develop a method for predicting the determinants of suicide bombing attacks. This brief describes an assessment of how geospatial and sociocultural characteristics may help predict the timing and targets of terrorist attacks.

Nov 7, 2013
Research Brief

Research Brief

Using Behavioral Indicators to Detect Potential Violent Acts

Provides an overview of research on how observable behavioral indicators might be used to detect potential violent attacks, such as by suicide terrorists or those laying improvised explosive devices.

Aug 23, 2013
Report

Report

Using Behavioral Indicators to Help Detect Potential Violent Acts: A Review of the Science Base

Reviews the scientific literature relating to observable behavioral indicators that might, along with other information, help detect potential violent attacks, such as those by suicide terrorists or the laying of improvised explosive devices.

Jun 11, 2013
Report

Assessing Multiple Data Points Can Help in Predicting Suicide Attack Targets

Analysis of data on suicide attacks in Israel suggest that assessing sociocultural, political, economic, and demographic factors in addition to geospatial data enhances the ability to predict future suicide attack targets.

Feb 18, 2013
Journal Article

Journal Article

Economic Conditions and the Quality of Suicide Terrorism

The authors discuss the correlation between economic conditions, the characteristics of suicide terrorists, and the targets they attack.

Jan 1, 2012
Commentary

Commentary

What Al Qaeda Is Thinking Now: Defanged, but Desperate to Show They're Still in the Fight

There may be some spontaneous acts by individuals enraged by Bin Laden's death who are inspired to follow him into martyrdom. But these are the spasms of reaction, not planned retaliatory operations, and will not demonstrate that Al Qaeda can survive Bin Laden, writes Brian Michael Jenkins.

May 4, 2011
Journal Article

Journal Article

Economic Conditions and the Quality of Suicide Terrorism

This paper adds to the debate on the relation between economic conditions and terrorism bystudying the intensive rather than the extensive margin of terrorism.

Sep 30, 2010
Journal Article

Journal Article

Counter-suicide-terrorism: Evidence from House Demolitions

This paper attempts to fill this gap by linking novel micro-level data on house demolitions(a policy used by the Israeli Defense Forces [IDF] to combat and deter terrorism) and suicideattacks, empirically documenting the effects of house demolitions on future suicide attacks

Dec 31, 2009
Journal Article

Journal Article

The Economic Cost of Harboring Terrorism

The literature on conflict and terrorism has paid little attention to the economic costs of terrorism for the perpetrators.

Dec 31, 2009
Testimony

Testimony

Going Jihad: The Fort Hood Slayings and Home-Grown Terrorism

In testimony presented before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Brian Michael Jenkins assesses the tragic and disquieting events at Fort Hood in the context of terrorist violence in the U.S. and the Muslim American community .

Nov 17, 2009
Commentary

Commentary

Is Iraq Safe Yet?

The Obama administration's decision to withdraw the bulk of United Sates troops from Iraq over the next 19 months has sparked fears that Iraq will once again plunge into the wide-scale and debilitating violence that it endured from 2004 to 2007. Those fears are, for the most part, overblown, writes Lowell Schwartz.

Mar 5, 2009
Journal Article

Journal Article

Female Survival Calculations in Politically Violent Settings: How Political Violence and Terrorism Are Viewed as Pathways to Life

This article seeks to demonstrate that evolutionary theory provides intriguing insights into two phenomena that observers find difficult to understand: political violence and female political violence.

Dec 31, 2008
Commentary

Commentary

Backlash Against Terror

The recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, are part of a disturbing trend across the Muslim world of groups that target civilians in the name of Islam. Less visible to Western eyes, but potentially just as significant, is a growing backlash among Muslims who condemn such attacks as unethical, writes ...

Dec 21, 2008
Commentary

Commentary

In Iraq, a Different Kind of Drama Stages a Message of Reconciliation

While female suicide bombers in Iraq have been getting all the headlines, a very different cadre of women has emerged on the scene with the opposite goal of forging peace and paving over the sectarian differences. Above all, these activists want to take back the streets and neighborhoods of their country, write Edward O'Connell and Cheryl Benard.

Dec 18, 2008
Commentary

Commentary

The Backlash Against Terror

The recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, are part of a disturbing trend across the Muslim world of groups that target civilians in the name of Islam. Less visible to Western eyes, but potentially just as significant, is a growing backlash among Muslims who condemn such attacks as unethical, writes Seth Jones.

Dec 8, 2008
Commentary

Commentary

Terrorists Have to Be Lucky Once; Targets, Every Time

The 9/11 tragedy was a catalyst that accelerated the pace of the changes in the UK security model that were already occurring due to the waning threat of terrorism from the IRA and the growing threat from those who espoused an ideology of violent jihadism. The changes took place in three main areas, writes Lindsay Clutterbuck.

Nov 30, 2008
Commentary

Commentary

Probing Why Women Kill in Iraq

A significant emphasis has been placed on female suicide bombers' tactical success, and efforts to determine why they kill focus on al-Qaida's recruitment of women. But little attention is paid to the personal motivation women have for killing themselves and dozens of innocents around them, writes Farhana Ali.

Aug 7, 2008
Commentary

Commentary

Dressed To Kill: Why the Number of Female Suicide Bombers is Rising in Iraq

Muslim female suicide bombers are on the rise.... But for those of us who have studied the phenomenon, the assaults should not come as a surprise, writes Farhana Ali.

Jul 30, 2008
Report

Report

Improving Outcomes in Iraq Depends on Better Tracking of Violence Against Iraqis

A formalized system of data collection will help monitor the extent and type of violence against Iraq civilians and will help improve U.S. counterinsurgency efforts.

May 21, 2008

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Suicide Attack

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