Nov 10, 2017 in Sociology

Suicide Bombing

Suicide bombers are the terrorists said to blow themselves up in the process of attacking others or property. They do this by attaching explosives to their body giving them an access to areas packed with people where no other tactic to place the explosives would work. Their aim in this is to achieve religious, ideological, or political goals.

Bombing Incidences and Their Motivation

In October 2003, Palestinian lawyer exploded a bomb in Maxim restaurant in Haifa, Israel, killing twenty people and others wounding. The family explained this as a revenge for Israel security forces crime of killing her brother and the fiancÃ©. The bomber also cited that the attack was due to the revenge for Israel’s penetration to West Bank killing Palestinians and stealing their land. Many of the suicide bombings in Israel were as a revenge for their acts.

In September 2007, American forces invaded Iraq rebel camp near Syrian border and discovered that 137 of them were Libyans and other 52 from Darnah town. The reason these Darnah young men were in Iraq for the suicide mission was not the jihadi ideology but was due to pride, local traditions of opposition, anger, and religious commitment. This took place in Taji town, 12 miles north of Baghdad, the capital city of Iraq. A bomber who was dressed in like a civilian intruded a Sahwa tribal fighters meeting and blew up his explosives when these fighters collected their salaries. This attack left 22people dead. The Sahwa are the former Sunni rebels who protested against al Qaeda in Anbar at the Iraq war and aided American troops in turning the tide of the battle.

In 2012, Israel targeted to hit the Palestinian militants from the sea and by air. These attacks killed 51 Palestinians half of which were civilians. With this, Palestine fired rockets from Gaza to hit Israel killing three civilians and leaving many wounded. These counter attacks have continued with little hope of their end. Revenge seems an answer to a society with continued sufferings or one that is aggrieved. Men attach more weight to vengeance, and youths are more set to act in revenge than the old, hence do most bombers being young males.

However, recent researches have shown that the majority of women have involved themselves in terrorist acts. This has been a strategy, in the view that women are a gentle sex, thought to be harmless creatures. From this view, sixteen-year-old Syrian, Sana’a Youcef Mehaidli, drove a truck loaded with explosives in an Israel Defense Force. The attack killed two soldiers and injured two. Since this 1985 incidence, the number of female suicide successful attacks has greatly increased

Ways to Reduce the Bombings

  1. Attrition tactics. This involves stopping attacks by bombers before they act and, at the same time, hardening infrastructure to curb damage associated with the blast.
  2. Direct action. It involves paying attention to the organization mostly by arresting or killing the key leaders to end the organization.
  3. Covert action. This also focuses on the organization but interrupts its actions through secret means other than killing leaders.
  4. Civic action. Its focus is on the organizations supporters where appealing substitutes offered draw their attention from supporting the rebels into support for their government.

The impact of these depends on the response of the targeted or other unplanned and indirect results.

Related essays

Chat with Support