The mention of the term suicide bomber often brings to mind the image of flag-swathed Japanese fighter pilots taking their ritual oath before boarding their fighter planes during World War II. They were called Kamikaze, a Japanese word that means ‘divine wind’. They weren’t the first, however. Long before the Kamikazes began crashing their planes into enemy warships, the phenomenon of suicide attack was introduced in the 17th century by the Dutch army while fighting Koxinga’s forces.
In modern times, suicide bombings have become more a weapon of terror than heroism in the battlefield. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were the first guerrilla force to have adopted the tactic of suicide attacks, with the so called Black Tigers. India lost a prime minister to a suicide attack carried out by the LTTE. There has hardly been any region in this world which has not been hit by suicide bombings. Israel has also been particularly prone to suicide bombings, carried out by the members of PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine). It has been reported that between 2000 and 2006, PFLP received more applications for suicide bombers than it needed. The Chechen rebels have used suicide attacks on several occasions in their conflict against the Russian government.
At present, the Taliban and al-Qaeda are the terrorist groups that have repeatedly resorted to suicide attacks to create havoc; 9/11 was their most terrible attack ever, one that has certainly changed the history of the world.
Robert Pape, director of the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism, believes that most suicide attacks in recent times have the same specific strategic goal: to cause an occupying state to withdraw forces from a disputed territory. Islamic terrorist organisations propagate that if a fighter becomes a suicide attacker then he/she will earn a place in heaven. According to a report compiled by the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism, most of the suicide attacks in the last decade have either been launched by Islamic terror groups or been staged in Muslim majority nations. The tag for carrying out the largest number of suicide attacks still stays with LTTE, even though they were militarily wiped out two years ago.
Afghanistan and Pakistan have mostly been at the receiving end of suicide attacks in recent times. Pakistan has had around 30 suicide attacks till now in 2011, most recent being the bombing of a mosque in the town of Jamrud that claimed 48 lives. What shocked the whole world is that the attacks took place in the holy month of Ramadan. On August 19, a suicide attack was carried out at the compound of the British council in Kabul, Afghanistan, as well.