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Suicide Attack

Suicide attacks 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.

Blog
Hospital Prices, Border Solutions, Sri Lanka: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on hospital prices, common-sense solutions to the border crisis, myths about the Sri Lanka attacks, and more.
May 10, 2019
Commentary
Sri Lanka's Easter Attacks: Dismantling Myths to Prevent the Next Attack
On Easter Sunday, suicide bombers hit six locations across Sri Lanka, killing more than 250 people. Even before ISIS claimed responsibility, there was no obvious connection to the quarter-century of violence that afflicted the nation until 2009. It is worth dismantling a few myths that might prevent better preparation for future attacks.
May 6, 2019
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
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
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
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
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
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.
Oct 1, 2010
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
Jan 1, 2010
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.
Jan 1, 2010
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
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.
Jan 1, 2009
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
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
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
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
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
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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RAND Topic:
Suicide Attack

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