A suicide attack is any violent attack in which the attacker accepts their own death as a direct result

of the method used to harm, damage, or destroy the target. Suicide attacks have occurred
throughout history, often as part of a military campaign such as the Japanese kamikaze pilots of
World War II, and more recently as part of terrorist campaigns, such as the September 11 attacks.

USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) after a kamikaze attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy on May 11, 1945

The World Trade Center in New York City came under a suicide attack on September 11, 2001
While there were few, if any, successful suicide attacks anywhere in the world from the end of World
War II until 1980,[1] between 1981 and September 2015, a total of 4,814 suicide attacks occurred in
over 40 countries,[2] killing over 45,000 people. During this time the global rate of such attacks grew
from an average of three a year in the 1980s, to about one a month in the 1990s, to almost one a
week from 2001 to 2003,[3] to approximately one a day from 2003 to 2015.[2]

Suicide attacks tend to be more deadly and destructive than other terror attacks[4] because they
give their perpetrators the ability to conceal weapons, make last-minute adjustments, and because
they dispense with the need for remote or delayed detonation, escape plans or rescue teams.[4]
They constituted only 4% of all terrorist attacks around the world over one period (between 1981
and 2006), but caused 32% of all terrorism-related deaths (14,599). Ninety percent of those attacks
occurred in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.[5] Overall, as
of mid-2015 about three-quarters of all suicide attacks occurred in just three countries: Afghanistan,
Pakistan, and Iraq.[6]

Suicide attacks have been described as a weapon of psychological warfare[7] to instill fear in the
target population,[8] a strategy to eliminate or at least drastically diminish areas where the public
feels safe, and the "fabric of trust that holds societies together", as well as demonstrate the lengths
to which perpetrators will go to achieve their goals.[4]

The motivation of suicide attackers varies. Kamikaze acted under military orders and were motivated
by obedience and nationalism. Before 2003, most attacks targeted forces occupying the attackers'
homeland, according to analyst Robert Pape.[9] Anthropologist Scott Atran states that since 2004
the overwhelming majority of bombers have been motivated by the ideology of Islamist martyrdom.
[10]

Definitions
Terrorism
Suicide attacks include both suicide terrorism—terrorism often defined as any action "intended to
cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants" for the purpose of
intimidation[11]—and suicide attacks not targeting non-combatants. An alternative definition is
provided by Jason Burke, a journalist who has lived among Islamic militants, and 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.[12] 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'.[13]

Suicide terrorism

The number of suicide attacks grew enormously after 2000.[14]