Suicide terrorism

By Suba Chandran

WITH THE recent attacks on the United States, one aspect of terrorism - suicide terrorism - has assumed importance. Suicide terrorism should not be seen just as the work of a maniac or a bunch of maniacs. The concept of suicide terrorism, with all its manifestations and implications, is essentially modern and a post-1980 phenomenon. Ever since the first suicide terrorist attack in October 1983 in Beirut killing more than 250 American and French peacekeepers, there have been nearly 300 suicide terrorist attacks all over the globe. An analysis of these attacks reveals the following aspects.

First, as mentioned above, suicide terrorism is a post-1980 phenomenon. It had very close connections with Iran and came into being after the revolution in Iran in 1979. The first suicide attack was carried out by a Shia terrorist group Hezbollah (Army of Allah), which had very close links with Iran. Most of the suicidal attacks carried out during the early 1980s were by the Hezbollah and the Amal, another Shia terrorist organisation. Second, of the groups that were involved, except LTTE, the rest - Hezbollah, Amal, Hamas, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Gama'a al-Islamiya and Al- Qaeda - adhere to the Islamic faith, both Shia and Sunni.

Third, though the majority of the organisations involved in suicide terrorism adhere to a particular faith, the objective of the attacks, primarily, have been political and not religious. The first ever attack perpetrated by the Hezbollah was to threaten the U.N. peacekeepers, mainly the Americans and the French, and prevent any future deployment of U.N. troops in Lebanon. Additionally, chasing the Israeli troops away from Lebanon was also an objective of these attacks, one in which the Hezbollah did succeed; the U.N. peacekeeping forces were withdrawn and Israel, finding it difficult to cope with a series of such attacks, retreated. The attacks by the two Egyptian groups, Egyptian Islamic Jihad and Gama'a al-Islamiya, were primarily acts of revenge or of disapproval. For example, the suicidal attack on the Egyptian Embassy in Pakistan in November 1995 was aimed against any possible cooperation between Pakistan and Egypt in extraditing the terrorist leaders to Egypt. The attacks of Hamas and the PIJ were purely political and were mainly aimed at disrupting the peace process between Israel and the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation). The Al-Qaeda, a recent addition, which is funded by Osama bin Laden and blamed for the terrorist attacks against the U.S., is in fact anti-West and, in particular, anti-U.S., though it proclaims of waging a jehad against the infidels. All these groups use Islam merely to gain religious legitimacy for their acts.

Fourth, the participation of women in such suicide attacks. More than one-third of the suicide attacks carried out by the LTTE were by its women cadres and in the PKK, its women cadres had undertaken more suicidal attacks than their male counterparts. Women, in general, are not subjected to serious security checks which make their task easier. Besides, the participation of women increases the morale of its women cadres, thereby inviting more to join the group. Groups such as the LTTE which find it difficult to get male cadres due to the prolonged war and the continuous out-migration of Sri Lankan Tamils finds their women cadres as lethal as their male cadres.

Why do terrorist groups organise suicidal attacks? What are their objectives and motivations? What does the terrorist group gain, particularly when there is widespread condemnation of such acts, from not only Governments, but also the local population and the international community? The following reasons can be attributed as to why terrorist groups resort to such suicidal attacks. First, the psychological impact on the state and its armed forces against which the act is perpetrated. Any state, however powerful, finds it extremely difficult to prevent such a determined act from an individual. The U.S. had to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after the 1983 attack, and even Israel retreated from the territory it had occupied. The Sri Lankan Government finds it totally impossible to deal with the suicide bombers. Though Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga survived a suicide attack, the other leaders of Sri Lanka did not have a chance to escape. Such fatal attacks on well-protected leaders not only create terror inside the state but also undermine its legitimacy. Suicide bombers have also created such terror that political leaders surround themselves with elaborate security arrangements often alienating themselves from the public.

Second, the psychological impact on the population. The common man is thoroughly bewildered and feels totally helpless, which is the very objective of the terrorist groups - to alienate the population from the Government and make them feel that their Government is impotent. Third, the morale of the terrorist group that perpetrates the suicide attack. Many a time, suicidal attacks by an organisation has been to boost the morale of its cadres and overcome the remorse caused by any military loss. The LTTE has always resorted to suicidal attacks whenever it met with any major debacle at the hands of the Sri Lankan armed forces; the PKK too was involved in suicidal attacks to boost its image among its own cadres and among the population whose cause it supposedly served. The LTTE is one among the few organisations that has an institutionalised suicide wing - Karumpuligal (Black Tigers). July 5 is celebrated as the day of the Black Tigers. Such glorification boosts the morale of the cadres. In Jammu and Kashmir, the terrorist groups prefer to call themselves ``fidayeen'' (suicide squads), though their attacks are primarily based on a hit-and-run strategy.

Fourth, suicidal attacks provide a lot of publicity and media attention to the group that is involved. The Hezbollah became very popular in the early 1980s mainly because of its suicidal attacks. The publicity factor is significant as it not only makes it popular, but also helps the group get more recruits. Especially in regions such as West Asia and South Asia, where a number of groups claim to represent the same population, suicidal attacks make them serious, powerful and invincible among those who are willing to take the extremist path. It is no coincidence that the Hamas, Hezbollah and the LTTE, which are able to get cadres continuously, are those groups that have ``institutionalised'' suicide squads and have a separate suicide wing. Another aspect of the publicity is the funding. When there are a number of groups espousing the same cause, suicidal attacks enable the groups to mobilise more funds - both from internal and external sources. Again, it is more than mere coincidence that the groups that have suicide wings are the most funded.

Fifth, suicide attacks, though requiring a lot of preparation, are cost effective despite the loss of a single life or two. In Beirut, more than 250 soldiers were killed with just one suicide killer in a Mercedes in 1983; 40 soldiers were killed in Sri Lanka in 1987 with a single driver riding his truck into a makeshift camp; more than 200 were killed in Nairobi and Dar es Saalam in 1998; and thousands have died in the recent air attacks on the U.S. The number of lives that the terrorist groups lost in these operations and the cost incurred in carrying out these attacks is negligible when compared to the human and material cost on the other side. Other than the recent attack on the U.S. in which hijacked planes were used as delivery vehicles, in most other attacks, the delivery vehicles were either bicycles (the LTTE's favourite) or stolen cars and trucks.

How to tackle suicide terrorism? Security measures in the past, however elaborate they may have been, have proved inadequate. It is the difficulty in tackling such an extreme form of terrorism that makes it so significant.

(The writer is Research Officer, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi.)

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